Light Box - house in Imazato, Japan

Architectural Review, The, Dec, 1999

This house in the Kagawa Prefecture resonates with Japanese tradition, and yet is totally modern.

Imazato is a Japanese provincial city in the Kagawa Prefecture of Japan, and few places can be more anonymous and drear than the suburbs of such an area. But at least there is a liberal attitude to building, and people are allowed a great deal of freedom in decisions about how to build their houses.

At an early stage, the owners and architect decided to make an inward-turned house on the small plot, and the rectangular plan is arranged along a courtyard. The budget was tight, so agricultural materials were in order, and corrugated polycarbonate sheeting chosen for the walls round the courtyard to ensure that as much light as possible was available without privacy.

As the sun moves along its diurnal the patterns of light and shade thrown by the corrugated walls change imperceptibly. The house is a very sophisticated form of sundial made with the simplest of means, and it recalls the traditional paper architecture of the country.

ARCHITECT

KATSUYASU KISHIGAMI