SHIP by Katsuhiro Miyamoto & Associates
Katsuhiro Miyamoto & Associates designed the SHIP house in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan.
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SHIP by Katsuhiro Miyamoto & Associates
A residence built on a two-tiered site with a level difference of 3 meters. Because of the concern remained about the credibility of embankment and retaining wall built along the housing development, the foundation was laid on natural ground beneath the lower tier which was more reliable as the supporting stratum. The steel-made volume for public rooms floats over the retaining wall and above the upper tier for better view. Private rooms are arranged along the lower tier where the atmosphere is calm, at a distance from the front road, within a reinforced concrete structure which functions as a counterbalance to the overhanging volume.
An optimal use of curved surfaces designed in response to the site’s L-shaped plan was adopted in order to effectively support the large cantilevered volume. That is, instead of choosing a hierarchic structure of framework resistance system, a series of seamless structures of in-plane stress resistance system using steel sheets 12 mm thick made into panels with reinforcing ribs was set up to constitute a vessel-like steel shell structure. Although the first floor on the upper tier accommodates the entrance hall and one spare room, it mainly consists of voids –a sequence of external spaces that continue from the pilotis through the porch to the roof deck. The result is in fact much reminiscent of a ferryboat, in terms of both structure and layout, in which passenger decks and floating section are separated up and down with the vehicle decks in between.
Cor-ten steel used for the structure of this house’s first floor and up is entirely untreated on the surface and bare, expected to be covered with stable rust in the future. Contrastingly, the interior surfaces –floor, wall, ceiling- are finished uniformly white with elaborate thermal insulation. Combined with their curved forms, it is intended that a neutral space with a feeling of loss of depth is created.
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Visit the Katsuhiro Miyamoto & Associates website – here.
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Mr Anderson on 25 Feb 2011 at 4:55 am #
Dracula would like it-
There are hardly any windows! No natural light!
Ina Garten Da Vida on 25 Feb 2011 at 5:38 am #
This “Ship” has sunk on launch! What an unpleasing & depressing space. I would rather live outside in my car and enjoy the view, than enter this labyrinth of gloom.
Leroy Le Penguin on 25 Feb 2011 at 9:02 am #
Yeah, I would definitely need more natural light to live there, but I think that the lack of it is the result of the design focus (supposed to resemble a ship). They do try to incorporate natural light from the ceiling, but it isn’t quite enough for me.
The ship idea may have been taken bit too far in my opinion. It is one thing to be inspired by a ship and another altogether to design a house that is unnecessarily constricted by the problems with ship living spaces (little space and light).
Carlo on 26 Feb 2011 at 7:09 am #
I don’t like weathering steel, it’s ugly, dirty and in some places it’s just corrode horrible. I don’t undertand why they use it, so much and i’m not talking only in this house. May be some big name used it, a lot of architect begun to use it as well, to stay in “the latest”. But architects shouldn’t forget the people that will live in the houses they make, not just make them only to showcase the techniques, materials, etc they can handle. Poor neighbors too, as seen in the 3rd photo of the 2nd row, the house doesn’t fit the surrodings at all, and that in Japanese culture is very bad. They have a saying: “All the nails that stand out, get hammered”
Derive on 28 Feb 2011 at 6:00 am #
Love the form of this place but it could be a tad gllomy to live in I agree.
Maira Evans on 01 Mar 2011 at 1:46 pm #
depressing throughout