Case Study House - Moriyama House

ASSIGNMENT 2: CASE STUDY HOUSE REIMAGINED Chelsea Harris, 17002176 Lab 2, Module Code: 7CTA1138 Submission Date: 26/02/2021 Tutor Name: Ian Owen

Contents Introduction to the Moriyama House by Ryue Nishizawa Japanese Culture and the Tokyo Setting Aim and Outcome Inside Out House House K Moriyama House - Privacy Analysis and Comparison Simulation introduction Radiation analysis Sunlight hours analysis Shadow study Visibility analysis Annual Sunlight analysis Final comments References

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Page 2

Introduction to the Moriyama House by Ryue Nishizawa

The Moriyama House was designed by Ryue Nishizawa and built in Kamata, Tokyo in 2005. It consists of 10 units that range from 1 to 3 stories and are meticulously arranged across the site with garden spaces in between. The units may seem small, but its thin walls made of steel allow for the maximisation of interior space as well as a durable and structurally sound building. Huge glass windows and panels also open the space allowing plenty of natural light into all the units as well as in some cases, allow you to look right through a single unit.

The utilisation of some of the rooftops (Unit D, H, and I) also inherently creates additional spaces for the tenants to use when the weather allows it. Mr Moriyama currently lives in Unit A which is a 3-story unit with a basement, and he utilises the storeys dependant on the weather, the rest of the Units are rented out to up to 5 tenants. Tenants are able to choose which units are part of their lease and this is subject to change if other units are available, as well as it is up to the tenants on how they use the spaces allowing for complete customisation and adaptability for what the tenants needs are.

Nishizawa had several principles when designing the Moriyama house that were rooted in Japanese culture, whilst challenging it in ways that are not commonly seen. These principles include dismantling; smallness; acentricity; transparency; the creation of an environment; having multiple tenants; and the absence of borders.

Page 3

Japanese Culture and the Tokyo Setting

The Subdivision of Tokyo over a 65 year period

The life cycle of houses.

Asian cities differ from European cities in the way that they are modelled on change rather than having cities that last longer than a person’s lifetime. Japan certainly follows this idea that cities should be able to support a person as their life and values change by moulding its form to what they require. The national average for the lifespan of a house in Japan is 35 years with the average in Tokyo is even lower at 26, the city continuously regenerates itself through the destruction and recreation of homes that then include new technologies and ideas that suit the newer values of society and the newer generations. This allows for the city to develop at a faster rate than more static cities that are built to last, and it is not only ingrained in their culture but also the way architects design for it.

Juxtaposition of a small city scape behind a residential area

Generation to generation living.

As previously mentioned, each new family generation in Japan tends to live in a different way from the previous one due to new ideas, new morals and values, and new technologies that also have a heavy influence on the way we grow up. Each new family generation not only lives in a different way due to change and the implementation of scrap and build, but also due to increasingly high inheritance taxes that are unaffordable for the younger generations.

Due to this, properties and land that were meant to be passed down through the family are having to be broken up into pieces and sold to other families or businesses. These subdivisions are another reason the scrap and build approach exists because each home is being built smaller in order to make room for others as well as to adapt to the smaller land mass that it now must accommodate.

This subdivision has not only affected families on a personal level, but it has also changed the layout of Tokyo which now has densely packed clusters of homes and buildings rather than more open and separated land masses.

Smaller Dwellings Due to the subdivision of property and land, the average landmass owned by a person has shrunk to approximately a third of what it was 90 years ago, drastically changing the way people live over a short period of time. Families have had to adapt to living in smaller spaces that may be undesirable or unsuitable for their everyday requirements especially when children are a part of the family unit.

However, it is now widely accepted in Japanese culture that smaller dwellings are normal, however this does not mean that it is desirable or suitable for everyone.

Respect and Privacy Another large part of Japanese culture are aspects of respect, politeness, privacy and passive safety. These aspects are taught from a young age and passed from generation to generation forming a very traditional but respectful society. It is taught you must value your family, strangers and your elders and grant them the level respect that they deserve, and you must behave respectfully whilst around these groups of people. Mutual respect upholds a social hierarchy in Japan, and how people move up and down it depends on a variety of factors on both a personal level as well as a society wide level. Many gestures are present that indicate politeness or respect such as bowing, nodding or handshaking and these are also taught from a young age. From the high amount of respect in Japanese culture, privacy is inherently produced.

Everyone is respectful of each other’s personal space and on the other hand people keep their private affairs to themselves. People have the right to be left alone and this is actively practiced in Japan with boundaries being respected and questions not being asked.

However, this is starting to impact architecture and infrastructure, with homes, streets, and neighbourhoods becoming more introverted in design and appearance, and in turn this is becoming

“Scrap and build” ways of designing and implementing structures through using fewer durable materials that are cheaper at the time allows for the short life cycle of buildings to continue. It is more feasible to replace the whole building rather than just repair it due to how damaged these structures get at the end of their life cycle which also contributes to this cycle. Architects are also more inclined to continue to contribute to this cycle of destruction and recreation due to the amount of work it produces for them. They know that once they have created a house, even with cheaper material costs, that that house will need to be redone in the next few decades and therefore they set themselves up for returning clients and projects in the long run. The government has tried to discourage the scrap and build approach through the introduction of other taxes due to them desiring more sustainable and energy efficient homes that will last several lifetimes, the desire from the public as well as the designers to achieve plasticity through a constant turnover of homes is stronger. An efficient design model that introduces both the plasticity of creating new homes and durable and sustainable homes has yet to be discovered on a large scale, hence this scrap and build approach will continue due to it being so accepted present city wide as the city regenerates itself. and ingrained in Japanese culture.

Page 4

Aim and Outcome

I will be looking at 2 houses that are built in Tokyo that conform to the cultural standards of privacy and the techniques they do in order to do this. These houses are both built after the Moriyama house which demonstrates that the techniques that the house has implemented in order to challenge these cultural standards have not been taken on by other architects to such an extreme. This is why I have chosen to look at houses that are aesthetically similar and built after the Moriyama house, rather than comparing the house to the rest of its street setting. The Moriyama house and the street setting are glaringly different and the Moriyama was built in that setting rather than the houses being built around the Moriyama house. I will compare how similar techniques have been used between the different houses and analyse how effective these techniques have been when implemented in the Moriyama house as well as discussing how these could be potentially more effective.

I will be creating a unique data set looking at ratios of surface area to window area and showing how much of these window areas are actually visible, or if the surface areas themselves are being concealed too, how much of those are visible. By creating this data set with these ratios, we are able to logically look at how much privacy there actually is for each house past the point of just observation. This data set also allows us to evaluate how efficient the techniques in place have been and we can therefore look at how to make these techniques more efficient, or less, if it is necessary.

All data collected may have some minor inaccuracies.

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Page 6

Inside Out House

North Elevation

East Elevation

South Elevation

West Elevation

(m2) (m2)

The Inside Out House was built in 2010 by Takeshi Hosaka Architects for a couple and their cats in Tokyo. The central house is surrounded by another exterior wall, mimicking a double facade where shelter can be found in the interior and a more exposed outdoor experience can be had in the exterior part. The exterior wall also acts as an extra level of privacy, allowing the interior to be more open with a lot more glass facade present.

This house is built after the Moriyama house yet still conforms to the more culturally traditional aspect. The majority of the windows are placed in the upper corners of the facade where you’re unable to see the interior space apart from on the North elevation where theres a window on the upper floor revealing part of the interior but with a limited view due to it being on the first floor. As you can see, only 6% of the exterior facades surface area is made of windows making it incredibly private, regardless of what you can actually see inside of these. Parts of the windows also have trees from the interiors covering them to obscure the amopunt you can see from standing outside, which increases the level of privacy past the 6% mark, although there is not a way we would be able to reasonably calculate this.

Due to a lack of windows or openings on the facade, there are openings or skylights in the roof in order to naturally light the structure, which helps to open up the interior a lot more.

Page 7

House K

North Elevation

South Elevation

West Elevation

(m2) (m2) (m2)

The House K was built in Tokyo in 2014 by Yuji Kimura Design and was designed with the intent to provide indoor and outdoor space in a small area whilst maintaining the owners privacy. The interior house is incredibly open with a lot of light flooding in from small, highly placed windows as well as skylights placed above the stairwell allowing for light to cascade down the floors. The main entrance is kept away from the street in order to obscure it from those walking along the street, as well as the outdoor patio is

obscured by a structural wall along with a timbler slat screen that also hides larger windows on the higher floors.

This house, much like the Inside out house, was built after the Moriyama house but also conformed to being based around privacy.

Similary to the inside out house, smaller windows are placed in low positions and are scarce with more being placed higher as well as gradually getting wider. The east side of the structure is also obscured by another building which provides a natural privacy through the use of the environment around it. As previously mentioned, on the south side of the structure, larger windows are placed in order to provide more natural light throughout the day however these are obscured from view by timber slats that do not block light from entering the building. Using this double skin dramatically effects the privacy by cutting the visible amount of window from 7% of the total surface area to 3%. This is a demonstration of how placing a double skin in a specific part of the design can seriously effect how you view it from the outside without effecting the way that it works internally.

Page 8

Moriyama House - Privacy Analysis and Comparison

B

A

C

D J

I F

H

E

G

Floor plan with labelled units the amount of surface or window area that is being hidden, we can observe that it does effect how much you can see of the buildings as well as can help conceal the shape of some buildings if there are trees infront of multiple units. This not only gives the trees the purpose of providing greenery and external shelter space, but they also provide privacy from the street view, as well as may provide privacy between units as multiple tenants use the house at one time.

North Elevation

East Elevation

South Elevation

West Elevation

(m2) (m2) (m2) (m2)

The house also being deconstructed means there is an overlap and natural privacy occuring that is visible from the street. This is visible in the data I have collected, and have had to add 3 more data types in order to accommodate. This shows that you can use other means of obscuring the facade without building a second skin on top of the original. Only 62% of the total facade area is visible due to the overlap and intentional positioning of the units. This is also calculated in the scenario that the southern facade did not back on to another building which does obscure it as this would mean only 50% of the total facade surface area would be visible. Some units are almost completely obscured from sight from the outside view, such as units I and J. These units were purposefully placed on the inner area of the scheme due to them having a more private use such as a ground floor bedroom and a shower. In Japanese culture these would not be placed on the ground floor typically due to privacy reasons and the shower would certainly not be made mostly with glass. To counteract this, the positioning and the use of the other buildings provides privacy from the outside despite the units being exposed to the other tenants.

You can already notice without the use of data that the Moriyama house has a high amount of glazing. I believe this is partially due to the units being small and Ryue Nishizawa wanting to make it seem that the units are bigger than they are, or that being able to see from one unit into another connects them relationally as well as spacially. However this provides a privacy issue. During the day, this glazing may reflect sunlight and therefore provide a natural and The Moriyama House predates the previous 2 examples of Tokyo possibly unintended amount of privacy with onlookers being unable housing that are also manifactured with an intended purpose of to see into the units. However at night, when the house lights up it creating private and intimate spaces. This by itself can indicate to will become incredibly see-through with little to no privacy without us that whilst the Moriyama house tried to challenge the privacy additional means such as blinds. This is potentially the most daring aspect of Japanese culture, it was not necessarily influential in the aspect that is not commonly seen in Japanese architecture even wider design community even though similar design techniques though it is such a simple way to achieve it. We can even see by the were used to provide privacy whilst not closing off the internal data, that the ratio of visible window to visible surface area is higher space for the users. than the total window area to surface area. This means there is Due to the structure being arranged as a series of buildings which more solid surface being covered than window surface which could resembles a deconstructed house, there is a network of outdoor be down the positioning of the windows themselves rather than the garden spaces that create open corridors that connect each of the positioning of the units. By placing such a large amount of window “rooms” or buildings. These also contain foliage and furniture that space within the surface area, Ryue Nishizawa knew that he would also help to block and obscure the different units from the street be challenging the culture, and i believe this to not be as successful view. Whilst this foliage cannot be used to accurately help calculate as the positioning of the units themselves.

Page 9

Moriyama House - Privacy Analysis and Comparison There are clearly multiple differences but also surprising similarities between the different houses. The most glaring difference is that the Moriyama house has atleast a 9 times more visible glazing percentage which can be observed without looking at data, although the data does put the difference into a more logical perspective. As previously mentioned, this is one of the ways Ryue has opened up the house but also exposed the tenants to onlookers from the street. I believe this is one of the least successful aspects as tenants inside will always need an additional system in the interior in order for them to get some respite from potentially prying eyes. I believe if more windows were placed internally as well as to the south of the site, the same amount of light may be able to enter the buildings whilst not showcasing the residents to the onlookers on the street. Skylights are also a feature of the Moriyama house in some of the main units, smaller, more sporadically placed skylights could also achieve this without overheating the buildings to a high extent. The windows that are placed higher up in the scheme, on the second floor especially, hide the residents more due to sight lines so perhaps windows placed higher could be kept in the same locations, but moving the windows to face more internally the lower you go, this could keep some of the original design whilst tweaking it for the comfort of the residents. By also mostly placing the glazing facing the interior area of the arrangement, it would increase the intimacy between the spaces as well as the residents.

A final difference, as a result of a few of the technique differences, is the way lighting is brought into the site. Due to there being few windows that are incredibly small on the first 2 example houses, they have to use plenty of skylights or openings in the roof in order to bring in enough light. I also believe that by having such a small amount of windows, the houses feel even smaller than they already are which can cause comfort issues for residents. The Moriyama house having such a large amount of glazing, whilst mostly unsuccessful in providing adequate privacy whilst still trying to breach social norms, are successful in opening the small spaces.

The tenants are able to connect with the street and skyline from the higher floors and will not feel so trapped. The house is bright throughout the year due to the high amount of windows with the skylights being less so for lighting but more for access to rooftops or aditional ventilation. However this may mean that tenants might be unable to escape overly bright lighting in some parts of the units at certain times of day, so whilst the units are easily lit, this is not always desirable.

Whilst the Moriyama does have is failures, mostly in its high glazing amount which effect multiple aspects of living, it does have some incredible successes especially when it comes to the use of a deconstructed design and the way it is then positioned in the A similarity between the Moriyama house and the Inside out house site. However, this style of building or this new way of thinking has not been groundbreaking in the Tokyo design space despite is the use of foliage to obscure privacy passively. The Inside out how popular the house is elsewhere. And I believe this is due to a house also used this technique to obscure the openings from the inside but the Moriyama utilised them to blur building boundaries. number of factors which are not necessarily due to the faults in the design of the Moriyama house.

Whilst some trees have been placed between the units at the Moriyama, I believe they could be more efficiently placed in order Firstly I believe that the scrap and build method of home is really to obscure more private buildings that have been built with a lot of glazing with little to no privacy. Unit J is an example of this, as it prohibiting the Moriyama house being replicated, by no necessary fault of its own. The Moriyama House is built to last unlike the is a shower with half of the building being made of glazing. Some majority of the other houses within Tokyo so this can make it passive privacy could be placed infront of this glazing in order to undesirable as it does not fit in with the adaptable material of obscure it from other tenants. Another unit is Unit G, which is a bathroom which you can see right through due to parallel windows the city. Whilst the house has been designed in a way that each tenant can use it in a different way, the house does not leave room being implemented in the unit. A few small trees could be placed for changing technologies, materiality or the arrangement of the on one side, preferably the more internal side, in order to provide spaces. By pushing the boundaries by trying to be more sustainable, more passive privacy without reducing the amount of light that the house and the new ideas it presents has segregated itself from enters the unit. the wider design community which is an unfortunate outcome.

A similarity between the Moriyama house and the House K are Secondly, I believe the changing materiality in terms of space in the use of additional facades to obscure more private ones. The House K simply uses a timber slat screen in order to obscure larger Tokyo is also hindering the opportunities for architects to replicate or implement the privacy techniques that are present in the windows, however the Moriyama house uses entire units in order to obscure others. They also both hide an outdoor space, House K Moriyama house. The lands that are owned by individuals are shrinking due to the expenses of having them leaving less room yet again using a part of a facade to do this whilst the Moriyama house uses positioning and careful planning in order to successfully for an arrangement of units rather than a densely packed and do this, such as with the top area of Unit I barely being visible from efficiently arranged house. The units are already small within the an outside view. It is both successfully carrying out the expectations Moriyama house and to make rooms even smaller in order to make room for more units would make the spaces inhumane to live in as of the culture, whilst pushing it to the limits by exposing such a I believe the Moriyama house is already walking on a knife edge of private setting to a minimal group of people. We can also observe this. The number of units would also need to remain high in order some units never have specific elevations exposed to the street to be able to hide certain units among others and this is not always view such as Unit As Northen and Eastern elevation. Every unit has some portion of itself being obscured by another unit or set of possible with the amount of land available to individuals. Tokyo itself is restricting designs from pushing the boundaries in the ways multiple units, and this shows how the network works together in an ingenuis way to allow every tenant to go unseen no matter their the house has, due to spacial limits which can not necesarily be avoided. location on the premises.

Finally, whilst Nishizawa designed the units with the intention of maximising the interiors by using thin walls, the interiors are still very small. The small size of the units along with the discomfort this therefore brings seems to contribute to the high turnover of tenants the Moriyama house goes for. This demonstrates that living here long term may not be possible for a lot of people, even for those that are currently used to the culture that has accepted small houses as normal. The Moriyama house does push cultural boundaries, but I feel that this is an undesirable boundary that is being pushed so designers are less likely to replicate it when they are rebuilding their own homes. Whilst there are 10 units that can house up to 6 people including the owner, this does not mean that is comfortable or that 6 people should be living there at one time.

The Moriyama house falls into the same trap of socially acceptable standards but would be much more efficient if it were to house 4 or less tenants where they each have multiple units and share smaller ones with specific uses such as units G and J that are both designated bathrooms and shower rooms, respectively. This would provide a higher level of comfort for all tenants, as well as perhaps allow the owner or the more permenant resident to expand to more units if they desires and might make tenants decide to stay more long term.

The Moriyama House is an amazing piece of unique architecture that is groundbreaking in terms of its current setting, however it does not mean this setting will embrace its successes as much as other places might.

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Page 11

Simulation introduction

NE

NW

In order to further analyse the building, I will be carrying out the simulations and demonstrating how the Moriyama house may potentially function so that it can help make a decision on whether this building is suitable for you.

I will be running a view simulation in order to further confirm the data that has been calculated and the observations that have been made. This will be able to tell us how much of the building is visible from the street and therefore we will be able to make a plan in order to make the buildings more private in the cases they need to be.

SW

SE

As we have previously mentioned, the spaces are incredibly small which you may not be used to and this can affect a number of comfort factors such as lighting and heating. The radiation, sunlight hours and interior annual sunlight analysis will enable us to look at areas that may have issues with comfort which can help you make a decision to see if this scheme is suitable for you and your needs.

Finally, due to the house being an arrangement of units, I have identified that overshadowing may be an issue. This may especially be the case for the units positioned in the interior area that are only 1 storey as they are north of much taller units. Whilst this can not be changed, running a shadow study will help you to plan how you want these units to be used if the overshadowing affects your vision for the project.

Simulations will be displayed in isometric, floor or roof views.

Page 12

Radiation analysis

Spring Equinox

NE

NW

SW

SE

Summer Solstice

NE

NW

SW

SE

Autumn Equinox

NE

NW

SW

SE

Winter Solstice

NE

NW

SW

SE

The radiation analysis shows us that each unit will experience a high amount of radiation on its upper most floor throughout the year, which is to be expected. The south west side shows that this is where the most radiation occurs throughout the year too, with the other facades experiencing little to no additional heat from sun rays.

Additional heating or other methods may need to be implemented

in order to increase the comfort levels in the colder areas of the units. Cooling systems may also need to be implemented in the higher floors in order to balance out the additional heat that occurs.

However, the need for additional heating and cooling systems in the same units are aan issue due to the units being so small. This small space can therefore be difficult to balance temperature wise

kWh/m2 1.32 1.19 1.06 0.92 0.79 0.66 0.53 0.4 0.26 0.13 0 kWh/m2 1.54 1.39 1.23 1.08 0.93 0.77 0.62 0.46 0.31 0.15 0 kWh/m2 1.32 1.19 1.06 0.92 0.79 0.66 0.53 0.4 0.26 0.13 0 kWh/m2 0.95 0.85 0.76 0.66 0.57 0.47 0.38 0.28 0.19 0.09 0

in order to provide the comfort level that the occupant desires.

This is a serious downside to the scheme as even though the deconstruction of a typical house and the arrangements of the units is intelligent and precise, the size of the units as a result of this hinders the internal workings of the scheme and prohibits it from reaching its full practical potential.

Page 13

Sunlight hours analysis Number of hours reaching each window during the day

Summer Solstice North East view

Winter Solstice North East view

Summer Solstice North West view

Winter Solstice North West view

Summer Solstice South East view

Winter Solstice South East view

Summer Solstice South West view

Winter Solstice South West view

No.

No.

13

9

11.7

8.1

10.4

7.2

9.1

6.3

7.8

5.4

6.5

4.5

5.2

3.6

3.9

2.7

2.6

1.8

1.3

0.9

0

0

Summer Solstice

Winter Solstice

Looking at the sunlight hour analysis which tells us how much sunlight each window lets in, the summer and winter months could not be further apart in terms of data. The summer months flood the rooms with light whilst the majority of the windows barely recieve an hour of sunlight at all. The surrounding buildings are also taken into account as they will affect how much sun reaches the the Moriyama house, much like how it shows that the buildings to the south and south west are not getting as much light as would be expected due to these surroundings. This simulation can tell us that additional lighting will be required in the winter months as this is unavoidable as well as additional passive shading may be required in the summer due to an over flooding of light. The Moriyama house does not have a good balance in either of the months in my opinion and therefore fails to comfortably provide light into the spaces in an adequate and controlled way. It seems that you get all or nothing in the majority of the windows, especially to the south of the site and this is unacceptable for it to be lived in practically.

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Shadow study Amount of hours light reaches an area in a day

Summer Solstice North East view

Winter Solstice North East view

No.

No.

13

9

11.7

8.1

10.4

7.2

9.1

6.3

7.8

5.4

6.5

4.5

5.2

3.6

3.9

2.7

2.6

1.8

1.3

0.9

0

0

Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice North West view

Winter Solstice North West view

Summer Solstice South East view

Winter Solstice South East view

Summer Solstice South West view

Winter Solstice South West view

Winter Solstice

Looking at the shadow study, whilst there is overshadowing in all months, it does not impact the units on the inner area of the site. The units in the site do not seem to affect other units in the summer months, but the surrounding buildings do. Particularly to the South East, there is some overshadowing occuring from the surroundings buildings.

Looking at the winter months, there is a lot of overshadowing due to the sunpath being lower in the sky and therefore causing longer shadows. The site affects itself the most, with the interior units rarely getting much sun on its surfaces at all, and the internal, south facing surfaces also do not get a lot of sunlight. This, paired with the previous analysis will affect how the rooms are used in the winter, with additional lighting as well as potentially heating needed as a result of this. The units may not even be suitable for use in the winter due to the conditions that the scheme inflicts upon itself, or only certain units may be suitable which may drive tenants out in order for the new permenant resident to contiue to reside there.

Whilst the positioning of the units has been incredible for privacy, it has instead doomed the scheme by causing conditions that are uncomfortable to live in.

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Visibility analysis Visibility percentage from eye level along surrounding streets

Elevation 1 North East view

Elevation 1 South East view

Elevation 1 View points

Elevation 2 North West view

Elevation 2 South West view

Elevation 2 View points

Elevation 3 North West view

%

%

%

50

83.33

80.95

45

75

72.86

40

66.67

64.76

35

58.33

56.67

30

50

48.57

25

41.67

40.48

20

33.33

32.38

15

25

24.29

10

16.67

16.19

5

8.33

8.1

0

0

0

Elevation 1

Elevation 2

Elevation 3

Elevation 3 South West view

Elevation 3 View points

For the visual simulation, the data was taken from the 3 street views that are able to be walked down, at eye level, for us to visualise how much of the Moriyama house is actually visible rather than using observation and numbers to make a conclusion. As you can see from the simulation, across all 3 iterations the most visible parts of the units are the facades of the units that face the street. After this the visibility is cut off quite abruptly so this tells us that people can not see very far into the scheme past the first visible unit. This simulation does not indicate if this is due to sightline distances or because the units are that effective at blocking those units that are directly behind them. I would assume it is a mixture of both of these factors along with some potential unknown ones. I believe the simulation to be an exaggerated example of how the Moriyama house is visible from the outside, but despite this it does back up the previous data and findings. It shows that the windows that are directly facing the street are exposed to unlookers and you are able to see them very clearly from multiple view points which is one of the negative aspects of the site. On the otherhand, it proved that the arrangement of the units is effective in achieving privacy.

Therefore, tenants can be reassured that there are blindspots all over the site that they can retreat to.

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Annual Sunlight analysis % 92 73.6 55.2 36.8 18.4 0

Percentage of light reaching the floor during a year

Unit A, First Floor Annual Sunlight Analysis with skylight visible

Unit A, First Floor Annual Sunlight Analysis

Unit A highlighted from Roof plan

Unit A, Ground Floor Annual Sunlight Analysis

I have chosen to evaluate just Unit A for the interior annual sunlight analysis as it is where the current owner resides in and may be where the you as the new owner resides.

As we can see, despite there being a lot of overshadowing and blocked sunlight available to the room throughout the year, the amount of light that does come in is evenly distributed throughout the room. The first floor is assisted by the skylight that covers over 25% of the roof space and it therefore most of the room has almost 100% of the light that enters it dispersed among it. This is fantastic for those that want an evenly lit room throughout the year however if you want a part of the room to act as respite from such a large amount of light you would have to resort to changing floors or even units. The ground floor has more of a gradient from south to north of more light to less light. This allows for the room to be arranged by the tenant so they can have areas in the sunlight and areas that are more sheltered.

It is known that the unit is used by the current owner by moving up and down the units floors dependant on the weather and this simulation can show you why. Each floor acts as its own microclimate which changes with the outdoor weather and each individual person has its preference of weather. Therefore, there will always be conditions within each unit that are undesirable for the owner which forces them to use each floor based on the situation they are in. I believe it is an intelligent way of making sure the entire unit is used equally, despite the fact it may not be comfortable all of the time for the resident.

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Final comments

Roof Plan

The Moriyama house hinders itself in many ways as well as is hindered by its surrounding environment and wider context. It has been unable to break through the cultural expectations that have been ingrained into the countries social and design fabric for many years even though its ideas are intelligent yet easily implemented.

The space that is required for the scheme is also unavailable to most of those that are wanting to design a house which has also prevented more replications or implementations of multiple units to provide privacy. The idea of having a higher ratio of window to surface area in order to open up smaller spaces is a practical idea yet exposes the tenants that reside there. With better positioning such as facing them towards the centre of the scheme, this could be more successful. Other positioning techniques such as placing foliage in order to provide passive privacy have started to become successful but with additional placements could make the scheme reach its ultimate potential. Finally, the placement of the units has been meticulous, intelligent and effective in providing privacy passively whilst still creating an intimate internal space. As we have seen in the simulations, due to the sizes of the units, there are many comfort issues regarding space or are a direct result of the small spaces. Lighting and temperatures are directly links and neither of these are optimal throughout any parts of the scheme.

Sufficient technology would have to be put in place in order to assist the design in becoming a humane living space which would incur additional costs as well as take up even more space that can not be afforded. The Moriyama House is a peaceful and private house in theory, however it is ultimately an uncomfortable experience where you will feel exposed to the streets of Japan.

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