CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 7/17/2014

How to Make a Japanese House

Architect Sou Fujimoto's 2008 reinforced concrete "House N" in Oita, Japan, is a featured project in nai010 Publishers' fascinating bestseller, How to Make a Japanese House. Fujimoto explains, "I wanted to propose a new prototype for a house with a garden in the city, with a contradiction built into it: it has a garden that seems to be both inside and outside. Secondly, I tried to create something that is back-to-basics. I made a garden, covered by a huge box that resembles a ruin of an ancient structure. Only walls are left and the window frames hold no glass. It makes for a very dreamlike garden. But the garden is not only a garden. When inside the house many layers surround us, and the garden is one of those layers. Through the openings we can see the garden, but also the sky and the not-so-attractive old houses of the neighbors. The garden, the neighbors and the sky contain an equal hierarchy. Compare it with the effect of shakkei (borrowed scenery) used in the arrangement of a traditional Japanese garden. In House N each layer works like shakkei. That’s why we feel depth.’"