House in Minamikaruizawa, JIA 25th Annual Architectural Selection　


This villa was the first house I designed with Takeshi Ueno for my parents, who are now deceased, and it is an important building that provided me with valuable experience.
I designed this villa at the same time that I was designing the IBM building in Makuhari at Taniguchi and Associates where I was working at the time.
The house was about the size of a toilet in this building, but its presence was so great that as the design progressed, I recall feeling a strange sensation as if I had become one with this architecture.
Looking at the large 1/20 scale model, he said, "This window here will let the morning sun in, so it will be a refreshing breakfast. A window on the staircase landing would let the breeze in. If we build a window on top of that, the light from the window will hit the wall and illuminate the room." As I was designing, I felt warm as if the light shone on my body, and cool as if a breeze hit my cheeks. I felt as if this architecture was an extension of myself, as if the distinction between my self and others had disappeared.