High-density, human-scale: new approaches to apartment design
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on July 17th, 2009
Source: Cathelijne Nuijsink, Metropolis Magazine
Kazuyo Sejima’s latest project, an apartment building in Yokohama, Japan, is an intricate composition of curves and voids that delicately balances privacy and community.
Completed last year for her independent firm, Kazuyo Sejima & Associates, the design refutes the Japanese practice of packing residences within inches of one another and cutting off all but windowless interiors from the world around them. “Architects may think about how to have a good relation with the surroundings but just in terms of one building volume,” Sejima says. “I want to bring character to each of the individual apartments.”
The key distinction at the Okurayama building is the curvature of the internal walls, which Sejima punctured through in various places on the ground floor to create a courtyard that all residents traverse to enter their apartments. It is an irregularly shaped space, with nooks and crannies that serve as semiprivate gardens for several of the units. And for those apartments that don’t have outdoor gardens, Sejima carved out second- and third-floor terraces. The design manages to grant both privacy and a sense of community. “These are apartments where people can feel more open toward the outside, and where there is at least some kind of communication between the residents,” she says. “Instead of being surrounded by a clearly fenced boundary, people should make some effort to claim their own territory.”
Source: Cathelijne Nuijsink, Metropolis Magazine