Six Moving Houses (2018)

Location: Imaginary site, Japan                                                                                                                    

Term: May 2018                                                                                                                                    

Type: Competition

Co-worker: Daisuke Kobayashi

Awards: Honorable mention in 5th Annual Polus Architectural Student Design Competition

Streets in Japan

「向こう三軒両隣」is a saying that means, "houses on both sides and 3 houses across the street are good neighborhoods". As this saying describes,Japanese houses, families had a close relationship even if they were separated by streets. In fact, streets functioned as a sharing space, where people can chat, have lunch, play, and even open a small shop. Streets inJapan played a significant role, as a place where daily interaction occurs. - such scenes, are now a relic of the past. After the age of rapid economic growth in 1960's, streets were reformed due to the huge supply of industrialized houses, which succeeded in gaining order and cleanliness, yet losing its cultural identity, street as a stage of our daily lives. The democracy of the street, is now totally lost. 

Redefining the Streets in Modern Japan

As we were required to design 1 street and 6 different housings in a36 × 36m site, and to suggest an alternative to this current situation,we proposed a new model of street, by redefining the street as an accumulation of small privately owned semi-public spaces. These"Cluster of streets" were given to each housings, which were designed to be movable using the railway technology, while providing opportunities for the residence to arrange the scale, size, usage of the newly defined streets by moving their own houses. The amorphous streets will once again, become the property of the people.

Varieties of Arrangement and Usage

Arrangement of the street becomes the daily routine of 6 households planned in the site. Each households discuss, and decide the usage of the street by moving their own houses. As the residents were given the opportunity to interact with the street more positively and subjectively,people will take in the street for the usage of their own purpose. The width of the street will vary from small to large, private to public, while indirectly re-creating further interaction with neighbors and pedestrians.Daily transformation of the street, helps in recovering the democracy of the street, and the lost relationship of 「向こう三軒両隣」...