The Pentagonal House by Kazuya Morita Architecture
Kazuya Morita Architecture have completed the Pentagonal House in Tsushima city, Japan.
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Description from the architect:
Think about roofs, we can say it is another landscape, which is created from where the architecture would build. As well as the natural landscape has, they have full of attractiveness for the space to live for us. And at the same time, roofs had formed by integration of different kind of technologies, so we can say roofs as “meta-technology” of architecture. If we start designing architecture from thinking about roofs as meta-technology, we have chance to deliver another technology for making roofs to be better landscape to live.
The site is within a calm village near Nagoya, Japan. It is a housing for young couple, and just next to this architecture, there is an old Japanese style house their parent lives. To respect for and harmonize with neighboring environment, we delivered traditional hipped roof as many neighboring houses has. This characteristic pentagonal geometry of plan was delivered to have the maximum space in this site and adequate open space around it. Then we start to think about how to live under the second landscape, pentagonal hipped roof.
Five main structural walls were set in radially, and it makes possible to take in the outside spaces as extension of interior spaces. In the center of the architecture, radial walls were cut off in dome shape, to make space for a dining table. Here, under the peak of the landscape, we have tall ceiling height and whole families can enjoy their dishes all together and wide range views to gardens. In 5 surrounding spaces with low ceiling height, under the skirts of the landscape, people can stay calm and relax with appropriate distance from others, just like a life in our traditional house.
Besides delivering this characteristic geometry ( it is a kind of technology) to the plan of this architecture, we tried to use the most usual wooden structure system what most Japanese houses are constructed nowadays. Walls were finished with round corner in Japanese traditional white plaster.
Location : Tsushima city, Aichi pref. JAPAN
Program : private housing
Structure : wood
Site area : 692.63 sq.
Built area : 87.73sq.
Design : Kazuya Morita Architecture Studio
Structure engineer : Mitsuda Structural Consultants
Construction : HATANOKOUMUTEN Co,. Ltd.
Photo : Shinichi Watanabe
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shane on 06 Dec 2010 at 6:27 pm #
The acute angles create some predictably awkward spaces. This should have been addressed prior to construction. Maybe this idea was like communism, better on paper
mike on 06 Dec 2010 at 6:54 pm #
I like some of this design. But, it is so difficult to fully understand its space due to the sub-par photography.
Muhammad on 07 Dec 2010 at 7:06 am #
This house is simply great. You must have artist eyes to see this architecture. Otherwise you will be like Shane & mike who couldn’t understand at all.
Jat on 07 Dec 2010 at 9:08 am #
I think subdividing the pentagonal shape into equal-sized triangles makes for some claustrophobic spaces such as in the bathroom. Beyond that, I find it a pretty house all in all.
Maira Evans on 07 Dec 2010 at 9:20 am #
Although I appreciate wide spaces and open plan living areas, I must admit that this project is indeed very artistic in concept and implementation, making the mist out of the plot available for building. Smooth use of light colored wood and white paint, fairly good use of space. What’s interesting about this house is the concept of the “meeting point” in the center of the house. However, there should be privacy for some rooms. Excellent choice of furniture. Easy on the eye and the soul!
Maira Evans on 07 Dec 2010 at 9:21 am #
….making the most! not mist. sorry
shane on 07 Dec 2010 at 10:28 am #
no muhammad, I don’t think this is so difficult to understand. You should have your artistic vision checked, you may need corrective surgery. Although nice & open in design I can’t imagine it feels to “open” when you are at the bathroom sink. & is that a door stuck into a corner? (row of windows left of dining table). Yeah, simply great. Also, I hate alcoves. Tell me, what is so great?
pathos on 07 Dec 2010 at 12:08 pm #
While I can appreciate the strong concept, I agree that these wedge shaped spaces seem strange and discordant.
moreveils on 07 Dec 2010 at 2:12 pm #
lot of corners for collecting cobwebs…
Graham Roebeck on 07 Dec 2010 at 6:44 pm #
It is good to see a robust discussion on this building. As a student I designed a house from 3 split level intersecting octagons, to try and think around creating usable spaces from acute angles which are easy 45 degree modules while maximising the usable area with the least amount of perimeter. So I take an interest in this approach.
An irregular pentagon is a bold move to pull off- and sell to the client- and I think the solution has been most elegantly resolved.
The key is the central space, which is a fractal reduction of the external walls. The volume that would be felt in here with the radial view corridors, creates a sense of space.
A student of Gothic vaults will appreciate the roof structure- and this is earthquake country.
It is obvious to me the pentagon arose from a considered site response to the garden & path and is clearly not a gimmick.
In a western setting, the roof treatment and elevations could have been more bold. As they are, they sit well within the context of the neighbourhood that treasures privacy and convention.
I once read a Japanese proverb that the nail that stands proud gets hammered down. This is a home that wears its secrets on the inside, conceals it’s delightful interior within and only hints at this from without.
Bravo.
kastatelier on 07 Dec 2010 at 8:23 pm #
the pict of the house just make my head dizzy ,maybe the lens n camera settings . its kind of distortion of pentagon , but thumbs ups because of the approach ..
Tex on 07 Dec 2010 at 8:33 pm #
I can see the pentagon was a necessary shape for the building plot, but to me it feels like the concept of the central table dictated the terms for the entire internal layout. The pentagon could have been subdivided into a different and equally unusual configuration without creating a lot of awkward and unusable space. I love the openness (and there does seem to be doors on the bedrooms and bathroom for privacy) but the two narrowest sections (kitchen and bathroom) would have been given a more practical spacial arrangement had their shared wall been perpendicular to the external wall. The more I look at this house the more I like it.
Michael G on 07 Dec 2010 at 11:52 pm #
It’s different. I like it. ‘Nuff said.
shane on 08 Dec 2010 at 10:14 am #
ok, now I’m going to comment on the awkward positioning of the house in the yard. Why didn’t they follow the lines of the property? This pentagon doesn’t fit & creates as many wierd exterior spaces as it does on the inside. Different doesn’t equate to better
Hector on 08 Dec 2010 at 10:39 am #
Shane, did you try reading the description?
“This characteristic pentagonal geometry of plan was delivered to have the maximum space in this site and adequate open space around it.”
They weren’t trying to create a pentagon just for the fun of it, it’s just the natural result given the akward shape of the property they were working with.
shane on 08 Dec 2010 at 3:13 pm #
yep, & they didn’t get it. I’m sure they get lots of use out of the space between the house & the garage as well as between the house & the fence. Maybe you should ignore the description & look at what was actually achieved. I believe someone wanted to do this pentagon & didn’t care about these details. Once again I ask ‘what’s so great about this design?’. This is anything but a natural result
Hector on 08 Dec 2010 at 6:14 pm #
Shane, have you even looked at the images here? What magical wonderful shape do you think they could have acheived instead?
It’s a pentagon for a good reason, because there’s not much else they could have done given the akward site they had to work with.
Read the other comments here, you seem to be the one who doesn’t get it.
shane on 09 Dec 2010 at 9:19 am #
dear Hector, why don’t you read the comments. They’re about 50/50. They could have done a 5 sided house that fit the property better & divided the space so that awkward angles weren’t so abundant. Once more, what is so great about this design? (other than the butresses)
Hector on 09 Dec 2010 at 10:10 am #
Shane, you’ve spent a few minutes looking at some images and you think you know better than the architects who spent months on the project?
Are you even an architect yourself? Also, are you familiar with Japanese building code bylaws and the specific property line setback distances they might require?
There’s probably a lot more going on than you are aware of, so maybe being a little more humble in your opinions would be a wise path to follow.
David on 09 Dec 2010 at 11:57 am #
This is a forum and everybody has the right to express their feelings about all the architecture presented on this wonderful site (thanx, Dave). Here’s my two cents worth:
This house is very livable. I question the amount of space allotted for the Japanese Tea Ceremony (how much space is required?)…if it rather could have been smaller and more Zen private, then the living room and kitchen walls could have been pared back closer to the perimeter, allowing more openness and perhaps room for a kitchen layout adjustment.
I also wonder why the photographer completely ignored the room between the bathroom and the kitchen. What is it? A study…a storage area…tub room?
Then there are all the building criteria: customer requests, neighborhood restrictions, building code, and Feng Shui (prominent in the Asian areas). When you throw F.S. into the picture you end up with quirky water features in Southwest corner sheds, coins glued to West walls etc. I’m sure there were a number of things that the architect had to take into consideration and their end product still turned out quite nicely.
I’m just an armchair architect and this is just my opinion. I appreciated Graham Roebeck’s response about the Japanese proverb.
shane on 09 Dec 2010 at 3:33 pm #
oh Hector, I don’t think you need to be an architect to know when something is not right. Why are you so married to this design? Is it yours? I think questioning things & picking out what is wrong is what makes us move forward. If we go blindly along loving everything we will end up living in a pile of dung. Seems they are so close to the prop. line & garage w/ the structure that they could have made those angles more obtuse…like you (lol)
Hector on 09 Dec 2010 at 7:12 pm #
Shane, if you were an architect, you would understand that they can’t just do whatever they want to do. They can’t always just move a wall closer to the property line because they feel like doing it.
You make statements about how wrong their design decisions are, when you know very little about all the factors they had to deal with. The architects spent months working on a project like this, you might want to give them the benefit of the doubt that they likely know better than you do about what was or was not possible to do.
The design we see here is very likely the best option given the factors they had to deal with. It’s arrogant to accuse the architects of being wrong when you don’t know all the factors they had to deal with.
Suz on 10 Dec 2010 at 12:59 am #
I’ve noticed that Japanese houses are often built on properties that are small and a difficult shape. They don’t seem to have many streets laid out in a grid. It definitely results in some interesting architecture.
TW on 13 Dec 2010 at 12:51 pm #
I ignored this house at first as i detest octagon shaped houses.
But this is so beautifully executed on so many levels – geographically, spatially, materialistically – that I am impressed.
They have dealt with the usual problems of an odd shaped house with a high level sophistication that only the Japanese seem to do well. Odd shaped junctions in the celing? Create a sculptural skeleton to cover it up. Akward corners? Design fittings and furniture to fir the space.
Whilst I agree you don’t have to be an architect to comment on houses shown here, perhaps it would help people like Shane if they had a basic understanding on the layout of japanese houses. Because this house (and the subsequent shape) has been designed to make allowances for this.
For example, there is a really lovely and discreet connection to the parents house that is very Japanese. And the front entrance and transitional spaces say more about Japanese culture than Japanese architecture.
All round – an excellent design.
Lorena on 26 Dec 2010 at 2:19 pm #
Taken from the description: “Five main structural walls were set in radially, and it makes possible to take in the outside spaces as extension of interior spaces”. Departing from this idea, I agree with the design concept.
I am not an architect but I am starting to dream and making some drafts of my dreamed house. After drafting a rectangle house(22×7), I came to the idea of a pentagonal house, in case the land is more square than large. The pentagon allows exactly what I have attached from the description, without making even harder the use of the interior space. The uniqueness is a plus. And I also draw “every house`s heart” in the center, not literally the table but the kitchen. My house will most probably be builded in Sweden, where it´s cold, the winter is long and every ray of the sun is hugely appreciated. I will also make build big windows in the social areas and bedrooms, in order to see my little or big garden, the sunrise and the sunshine of course! Thanks for sharing this project.