ALPHAVILLE

Dig In the Sky . Osaka

ALPHAVILLE . Photos: © Shigeo Ogawa

At the center of Osaka, We designed a residence that is composed of three buildings sandwiching two courtyards, so as to bring light to a narrow site surrounded by neighboring houses on three sides. As each building will hold one-room-sized space on each floor, we decided to connect rooms with tube-shaped corridor and staircase that cross the courtyards.

Digging a hole in the sky
Every room is not divided by doors, but instead is linked by long stretching-shaped entrances. They are loosely connected, but are able to gain appropriate sense of distance for habitation.
Tubes dancing in the air
A part of the first floor is pilotis. The floating tube further crosses the courtyard diagonally and obstructs or reveals sights and noise between rooms, rooms and neighboring houses, rooms and street through pilotis. The sunlight that reflected on the exterior wall of the tube penetrates into the interior space from various angles. It creates intoned sequences by overlapping of the tube and the landscape seen beyond, as if multiple folding screens stand.
Loop
Because there are two tubes that connect the third floor and the second floor, a loop the links the space three-dimensionally avoids the residence to the dead end. The interior which is not confined by private rooms or doors enables not only to offer many different routes to get to the destined
place, but also to have a feeling of city-scape thanks to the tubes serve as the half-public space, and also to the half-open, half-protected courtyards by three-dimensional move of those tubes.

Project name / Dig In the Sky
Architects / ALPHAVILLE - Kentaro Takeguchi + Asako Yamamoto
Project team / Tomohisa Koike
Structural engineer / S3 Associates Inc. - Ichiro Hashimoto, Shunya Takahashi
Photographer / Shigeo Ogawa
Use / residence
Site / Osaka,Japan
Site area / 83.69m2
Building area / 58.78 m2
Total floor area　/ 151.65 m2 (exterior:52.17m2, interior:99.48m2)
Bbilding scale / 3 stories
Structure system / steel structure
Major materials / galvanized steel sheet, aluminum windows, concrete, plaster board, lauan vaneer,
vinyl chroride sheet, mortal
Main contructor / Osawa Komuten Co., Ltd
Suppliers /
Bathroom equipment SANWA COMPANY, Ltd.
Ceramics SANWA COMPANY, Ltd.
Lights iinonaho grass garden(chandelier), Panasonic Corporation
Upholsted furniture Fujie textile corporation, hhstyle.com
Water taps Grohe Japan ,Ltd
Doors/Windows LIXIL Corporation (TOSTEM)
Roof JFE Galvanizing & Coating Co., Ltd.
Facade elements JFE Galvanizing & Coating Co., Ltd.