Weekend House
location : Nagano, Japan
year complete : 1999
usage : weekend house
structure : timber
architect : Ryue Nishisawa
—
Weekend House is a modest house designed by the famous architect Ryue Nishisawa. It is located in a rural area about 2 hours drive from Tokyo, surrounded by the vegetation growing along the banks of a small river and with a clear view to the mountains - a perfect place to relax.
The interior of the house reflects the nearby forest, mostly constructed and clad in timber. The footprint is a perfect square where wooden columns are placed in a grid of 2,4 by 2,4 meters. Three small atriums or courtyards let nature enter the inside of the house and even when the rooms are separate, this creates a visual connection between them.
The construction is designed using a principle of modularity with standard elements. On the outside of the wall panels are mounted to stiffen the entire structure. This way the interior Glu-lam columns can be kept quite slender and be mounted to the roof with likewise slender fittings. The premanufactured modules were transported from the workshop and assembled on site very easily and quickly.
