Tadashi Saito + atelier NAVE

There are many ways to make a birds nest. Some birds make it on a well shaping tree, some make it on a swaying twig, in order to protect it from an outside enemy. The environment of a nest differs by what is important for the raising of young birds. A nest is built in natural harmony with the environment. It is the same when selecting people’s living environment. It becomes our work as architects to draw the possibility of the situation.

This house is located in the central city area of Takamatsu City. On making a plan, I considered the aerial chart of Takamatsu City. In addition to the daily used path, there is a path similar to an animal trail on the boundary line of the dwellings. It turned out this was previously an above ground sewer that passed along the side of the property. It is no longer a sewerage path and there is no bad smell associated with it. Now it is a clean and convenient alley way. A wind blows along there and it is unexpectedly cool in summer. On this project, we tried to use this coolness in the living environment. This site’s shape is long and narrow, and faces to the south and the central city area. It is difficult to get lighting in the room facing north on such a site. We have tried here to get light to the back of the house. By facing the opening to the south and using column pipe it gave the impression of sunlight filtering through the trees. Also by scattering nesting boxes (rooms) a good balance of light has been achieved. Then, privacy will be gradually secured by this depth.