“A private house is not a canvas for life it should define life itself, each action and movement is defined and controlled by the design of the space and it creates the balance of life, the speed and rhythm of the human body” as was said by the architects of this project, Curiosity + Milligram Studio. With their design for the C1 House, located in Tokyo, Japan, several questions about architecture is visited, even as far as to rethink the creative process in which architecture is designed.
The house itself is situated on a plot with a site area of 189 square meters, however the house was already designed before given a location. C1 was designed like a movie with a scenario and story boards in which all aspects of the project were designed and developed in parallel with each other. In that regard the house is designed as a product, a seamless space where architecture, interior furniture, and products become an unique emotional experience and are fully connected.
The basic architectural design is that of a glass box surrounded by a walkway-gallery that connects the floors. The walkway was designed using 3D animations, where the sequences of the interior were checked from all angles. This elaborate investigation and detail corresponds with the architect’s intention of having the design defined from a user point of view, with movement and discovery as the main theme. Another interesting detail about the architecture of the house is that to accentuate the seamless movement sought for the design, 25mm steel slabs were used as floors that come to a total thickness of 60mm once the flooring material was added.
Along with movement and discovery being an important driving force in the creation of the house, perception and scale is also questioned in this project to the point where the existence of each element and object is questioned within the house. Scale-less materials were used on the exterior of the building and is seen as a textured white finish. A specific melamine was created to achieve the same visual effect of the exterior on the interior with high functional specification for strengths and cleaning.
The size, proportion, height, and materials for furniture were re-evaluated to skew the perception of scale as well. All the elements that could reveal the scale and function of the spaces were re-designed to the point that the real scale and size of the interior is difficult to evaluate. In the end the unusual design process for the C1 house worked in its favor as all the elements and details harmoniously work together to compile a finish work comprised of all the answers to the questions Curiosity + Milligram Studio was asking in regards to how we should see and experience architecture.
Courtesy of Curiosity + Milligram Studio
