House in Aobadai by Satoshi Okada Architects

Location : Aobadai, Tokyo, Japan
Architect : Satoshi Okada
Type : residence
Size : 238.46 sqm.
Structure : RC
Completion : 2004
Project team : Daikichi Honma
Structural designer : Kenta Masaki
General contractor : Fukazawa Construction Co.
Photo credit: Satoshi Okada Architects



















The house is located in the Daikanyama Hill, next to Shibuya district, one of the most fashionable areas in Tokyo, today. On the sloping terrain from north to south, the site figures a trapezoid shape of approx. 9.2m in width by 25.2m in depth upon a narrow front road to the west. The east end boundary is only tilted by 4.19 degree from the right angle.

The client is a young executive person, a car maniac, purchased an expensive lot for his own dwelling as well as for holding a private party with business partners or friends just behind the hot spot. His primary request is to make a garage in order to store 4 cars in the house made of a rigid and safe reinforced concrete structure against fires or earthquakes.























This condition demands, proportionally, a large area only for cars in the limited property; at last, it occupies a half of the whole site. Also, in terms of architectural laws to the cosmopolitan area, tall buildings cannot be realized for maintaining a well-preserved housing environment particularly on the right of light. On the north boundary, a setback regulation in architectural laws restricts the building height less than 5.6meters.