Earth is banked up to the ground floor windows of this residence in Hidaka, Japan, by Japanese architects Suppose Design Office.

Long counters down either side of the living space form small landings for the steps leading outside and upstairs.

The ground floor is wrapped in glazing, while the overhanging upper floor, supported on stone pillars, provides more privacy.

More about Suppose Design Office on Dezeen »

Photographs are by Toshiyuki Yano.

The information below is from Suppose Design Office:

House in Hidaka

This is a house that is engaging nature to a part of a life in the dwelling through a wave of a ground from outside to the inside.

The site is placed in Saitama–ken, Japan, where it has a rich nature environment with beautiful scenery of a hill. The client wanted their house that is open to the nature environment and also has a depth in the space.

The ground is covering the half of the 1st floor of the dwelling. Because of the light hill around the house, residents could feel the connection with the surrounding environment closer as if they are living in the nature. To protect the building from the pressure of soil of the hill, the foundation of the house was built up and wrapping the half part of the wall at the ground level.

The half walls have multiple functions such as a table, shelves, and stools. In other words, residents could find their own way to use the space as if they are finding their own, comfortable space in nature like a hill with fine sunlight or under the trees with soft light through leaves.

Usually, there is a separation between a house and its surrounding environment to protect its privacy.

For the house, we tried to create neutral line between inside and outside in engaging the landscape into the house. We hope the architecture could create an environment that has more interactive relationship between nature and a life of residents.

Location: Saitama city, Japan
Principal use: private house
Site area: 451.13 sqm
Building area: 95.76sqm
Total floor area: 138.05sqm
( 1F: 54.27sqm/ 2F: 83.78sqm )
Structure: Steel structure
Client: a couple and one children
Project architect: Makoto Tanijiri [suppose design office]+ Kenji Nawa [Nawakenji-m]
Project team: suppose design office + Nawakenji-m, in-charge;Hiroshi Yamagami
Lighting: Caravaggio Opal P0 [LIGHT YEARS]
Flooring: 1F・oak flooring, 2F・white ash flooring
Internal Wall: diatomaceous earth, plaster finish
Ceiling: diatomaceous earth, plaster finish
Photographer: Toshiyuki Yano

See also:

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