K House by D.I.G Architects in Nagoya City, Japan

Project: K House
Architects: D.I.G Architects
Location: Nagoya City, Japan
Area: 962 sq ft
Photographs by: Tomohiro Sakashita

K House by D.I.G Architects

D.I.G Architects were faced with a challenging project – a house that should be located withing a tiny perched plot on the edge of a cliff overlooking Nagoya City in Japan. They had no choice but to dig into the cliff in order to build a base for the very, very unique structure.
The K House is a compact modern home with a windowless facade on the side facing the street, where the entrance is located. But once you enter inside, the metal staircase takes you down to the main volume which is located in the excavated area. On this side, the facade is entirely glazed and has large windows that provide stunning views of the city beneath the cliff.

A small house located on a steep slanting slope. The client simply wanted a life with a blessing of nature nearby and the beautiful townscape in distant.

Left only a very narrow flat part which is barely enough for a car, the site was steeply sloped down, almost like a cliff. We first had an idea to excavate the ground to generate a living space. Corresponding the nature form, heterogeneous and flexible space would retrieve the enchantment of the site. Not a house constructed on a cliff, but a habitat generated by the nature form of the cliff. A habitat like a pit or a shed posteriorly discovered in the terrains of landscape.

So we dig the earth to make the “floor”. Then a “sail” was set on that dent. The structural image of the generation of this “sail” is that the closed and self-contained systems like a polyhedron or a sphere, came down to the site and was spread up through anchoring to the earth. Now we’ve got a certain volume on a steeply slanting surface wrapped with a pitted earth and the sail-like tent on top.

Then we put a flat and straight deck bridging the vacant space. There’s no function assigned for this deck for the moment. But you might have moments in the life surrounded and protected by the earth that you need a place detached from the ground. There’s no partition dividing space, but level differences by a deck and a pit that generate characteristics for the empty space. The uses are not regulated except the bathroom. You think how to use while in use, through the direct feeling to your body.

–D.I.G Architects