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- Maibara House by ALTS DESIGN OFFICE
![Maibara House by ALTS DESIGN OFFICE Maibara House by ALTS DESIGN OFFICE](https://www.floornature.com/media/photos/38/11186/11_maibara-house-by-alts-design-office_home_sez.jpg)
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One house, two volumes, lots of solutions for a serene family life. This basically sums up the project by ALTS DESIGN OFFICE for a family in Shiga, a Japanese city with more than one million inhabitants on the island of Honsu.
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In actual fact, Maibara House is a stylish, clear response to the client's brief. In addition to the standard functions, this couple with two small children wanted a common space that would not invade the peace and quiet of the private rooms.
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So architects Sumiou and Yoshitaka from ALTS DESIGN OFFICE delivered two volumes. The main building is a white, solitary monolith with an almost introverted appearance on the street front and small windows along the side; the architects then added a kind of pavilion with a more traditional wooden aesthetic alongside it.
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This volume has two large sliding doors reaching out to the small garden, and it can be entered directly from the private monolith along a short hallway, since this is the communal area of the house. A place where friends and family can hang out together. Whereas, the kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms are all located on the two floors of the main building.
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This way Maibara House meets the client's brief by clearly separating the spaces - physically and aesthetically. The dominating material - like all the previous projects by ALTS DESIGN OFFICE - is wood, which, apart from being a renewable resource, also gives the building a distinct sense of friendliness and protection.
Christiane Bürklein
Project: ALTS DESIGN OFFICE,
(Sumiou Mizumoto / Yoshitaka Kuga)
Gross area: 124.20 m²
Location: Shiga/Japan
Year: 2015
Photographer: Yuta Yamada
Other projects by ALTS DESIGN OFFICE on Livegreenblog: Kusatsu House, Ishibe House