Wood In Architecture Issue 1, 2023

STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS
1
2
3
1 The entrance into The Circus
2 The design is inspired by a circus tent
3 Stairs leading up to the second storey
design has no dead-ends and
allows people and cars to move
freely throughout the first storey,
it accommodates various layouts
while providing an extreme version
of the ‘impracticality’ often sought in
vacation homes.
The structure uses conventional
construction materials to keep costs
low, while advanced pre-cut timber
technology and precision steel
hardware manufacturing technology
enable the unusual form. The first
storey is a ‘garage living’ space
shared by people and cars, with
functionality concentrated in the core
and outer rim. The second storey is a
private space containing the owner’s
bedroom and a central jacuzzi with a
waterfall shower.
Viewed from below, the frame of
the house evokes an open paper
umbrella, an intentional reference
to Japanese design. The client has a
playful personality and suggested fun
ideas that the architects incorporated
throughout the house, and on
weekends it is filled with car-loving
friends. Like a grown-up version of the
secret hide-outs that Japanese people
built on empty lots as children, the
project was “as much fun to design
as it is to inhabit”, as the architects
declared. WIA
WOOD IN ARCHITECTURE • ISSUE 1 – 2023 53