Interview about Amar Bari Apartment, winner of the A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award 2024
This architecture is a four-unit rental apartment for single person households in central Tokyo. It was designed based on the Japanese philosophy of Chisoku. And it was designed with bare concrete frame that maximize the limit of the site, and also with wooden booths where minimum living facilities and appliances were hidden inside. As a result, a freely space with a height of 3.5 meters was created. The residents use this blank space as an opportunity to enjoy their lives and to use it to collaborate with the local community. The project was designed to capture this blank space.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsThe philosophy of Chisoku is a philosophy that can be applied to various phenomena such as modern daily life and outlook on life.Many modern people have become junkies, giving priority to temporary desires and eating more than they need, or exploiting others more than they need to make a profit. As a result of pursuing one's desires without having an overview and rational self-control, people are exhausted because there is no "blank space" in the limited time and space.Now, by turning Chisoku's philosophy into an architecture, I thought it was necessary to have a "blank space" in which to step out of that endless loop and rediscover what is truly necessary for one's life.We need the space of "φ empty set" in mathematics.That's why this project was inspired by the client's request for a living space for single people, and aimed to create an ``architecture with blank spaces'' that would provide an opportunity for people to genuinely reevaluate their lives.
For this project, it was important to include ``blank time and space'' in the private room other than daily functions.It is possible to fill a private room with daily functions and share the heteronomous "margin time and space" in the city, but this is not an autonomous space.In Japan's urban areas, there are restaurants, laundry facilities, stores where you can get everything from delicatessen items open 24 hours a day, and old-fashioned public baths in older areas.Since these heteronomous living functions can be used as appropriate, this apartment was intentionally designed to minimize the living functions in the private rooms. This is based on the belief that there is a need for an ``autonomous blank space with possibilities'' no matter what kind of constraints there are, be it mental, time, or space.
Since minimizing the number of equipment booths for daily life functions was an important step in this project, a dimensional investigation into human behavior patterns was necessary. First, I cleared the manufacturer's guaranteed construction dimensions for essential equipment such as the toilet bowl, washing machine, bath/shower booth, refrigerator, and heat source for cooking. Next, I set the dimensions of the unit space while checking the behavior patterns when using each device. After that, I set up a multifunctional space by combining several behavioral patterns into one space.As a result, the small and multifunctional design allows residents to save time without having to walk around, creating more free time.
This project organized the service life of each piece of equipment in stages and rationally matched the materials to it.First, in order to maximize the reliability of basic living space, I selected strong reinforced concrete, which is said to have a service life of 70 to 100 years.Next, I housed equipment such as air conditioners and electrical appliances with a useful life of around 10 to 15 years, as well as underfloor piping, in a compact booth. As the material for this booth, I selected wood, which can be made into panels and has good workability.The result is a visually organized and beautifully integrated architecture.
I believe that minimization, multi-functionality, and sharing will be the keywords for architectural solutions for crowded urban living spaces. People who live together in urban areas share things that can be shared publicly, and minimize personal elements. I believe that the blank space created as a result of such organization in an individual's living space is useful not only for that individual's living space, but also for the region or city.I also believe that each space must be multifunctional for a prosperous urban life. Recently, I think that if we can provide a variety of architectural options such as shared houses where individuals gather and live in groups, we can create a diverse and rich urban environment even if it is crowded.
This project was dedicated to compacting the equipment booth with the aim of creating the blank space full of possibilities. Therefore, it is up to each resident to decide how to use the blank space.Because it's close to a music college, one of the residents, a music college student, spends a lot of time practicing here, and an individual designer uses it as a creative space. Some people have movie nights and parties with their friends while projecting images on the screen, so the blank space is a true white canvas where they can pursue not only community-oriented activities but also self-pursuits.
Based on such research, we set the minimum dimensions to provide the necessary and sufficient functions.Rather than giving one space to a single function, I experimented with methods and arrangements that would allow one space to be used for multiple functions.In addition, when considering specific dimensions, I took into account the standard dimensions of building materials and designed a design to reduce waste materials.
This area had a large population of elderly people and was an area with a high concentration of old small wooden houses and apartments, so improving earthquake resistance, fire prevention, and crime prevention was an issue.In such an area, the client requested the rebuilding of an apartment for single-person households, and in order to increase profits, this project needed to improve the issues in this area and differentiate it from other facilities.At the beginning of the design, I set the height of this building to the maximum within the local height limit, and built a deep The depth is set to a depth within the ground that allows for natural drainage without the need for pumping up.The choice of a reinforced concrete frame was a logical choice to realize them.As a result, the soundproofing was improved and new generations, such as students from the nearby music college, moved in, leading to greater diversity in the local population.
The sense of territory and needs of single-person households vary from person to person and from time to time. There are ways to secure and share spaces in cities and regions to pursue one's own potential and community interaction, but this project aims to create blank spaces in which to pursue one's own potential and foster mutual relationships with the local community. It was an important attempt to keep it contained in one's personal space.
Considering the purpose and meaning of people gathering in urban areas, it is inevitable that communities will emerge.In that case, instead of designing urban housing that has all the functions, there may be a way for cities and urban housing to complement each other's functions. Although there are other styles such as shared houses where groups live together, this Amar bari's living space configuration is considered to be a one of the prototype for the challenge of urban housing.
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