A modest light-filled home in rural Japan | ALTS Design Office
This unassuming house in Shiga, Japan is home to a young family. Architects ALTS Design Office designed the 71.3 m2 (768 ft2) floor plan around the combined living and dining room at the back of the small house. By arranging all the other rooms around the living/dining room, they were able to completely eliminate hallways. The main living space is flanked on one end by the kitchen and at the other end by a traditional “Japanese-style” tatami room, which can open to the living room with sliding screens.
A large window with built-in seating looks out over the farmland to the south. Windows facing the sun are great for passive solar heating but aren’t always the best for natural daylighting. There is often too much contrast between the areas receiving direct sunlight and those that aren’t. Here north-facing clerestory windows in the roof help to balance the light from the window. The indirect light coming through the clerestory windows reflects off the ceiling and provides even daylighting of the room.
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Images courtesy of ALTS Design Office. Via DesignBoom.
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Yes… And I mean the prices for both new and old houses in rural Japan
Could somebody please help me with the prices for small houses on sale in Rural Japan ? Is anything going for 1 million yen ? I am a foreigner currently living in Japan and would like to purchase one…. First preference would be for Ibaraki Prefecture.
we would like to implement you system in our country. Pls rresponds
Interesting, attractive floor plan for a small house. I would love to see this same floor plan used with a traditional Japanese façade, with low peaked gable roof and overhanging eaves. Now, to me, that would be exquisite !