House in Nikaido

二階堂の家

A house that stands on the ground of Nikaido, with the forest of Miyanomori in the background.

The land of Nikaido in Kamakura is a place where people have lived for a long time, a place where the sanctuary between houses and local shrines is woven into the topography, where one can read the patterns of history in the land.

The client was so in love with the land itself, their only request was to build a simple house where they could live as if they were camping.

We proposed a simple architectural frame system, in which 3 grids of 3.6m x 3.6m are lined up and stacked in 2 levels. Instead of designing a form in response to the shape of the land, we simply placed the grid in parallel to the cliff at the back of the site, opening up the garden to the front. It was our main priority to leave space for a garden to grow, to become a natural part of the local landscape over time. The staircase is an expression of this intention, lifting off the ground to minimize the impact on the land.

The interior is an open studio and the upper floor is connected by the open stairwell, whose large atrium window connects the interior to the mountains beyond. The staircase acts as a ventilation tower, creating a vertical passage for light and air. The storage is designed to a critical level, akin to the robust efficiency of a well experienced camper.

The external appearance is designed in harmony with the forest beyond, cutting a simple standing figure at the edge of the cliff. The black finish reminiscent of ink paintings of mountain lodges that seem so integrated in the landscape. This house has shown what one can do with a limited budget and a structural approach to building. Building a frame open to the landscape, to cultivate a living space while living partially outside.