Koenji-South Apartments
Koenji, Nakano, Tokyo, JAPAN
Multistoried tenement house consisting of three 2-storey buildings planned in a high-density area
| Architect | Furuya Nobuaki+NASCA |
|---|---|
| Usage | Apartment |
| Structure | RC |
| Size | 3F |
| Site area | 195.70㎡ |
| Area | 216.07㎡ |
| Completion | 2002.02 |
| Publishing | Shinkenchiku 2002.05, GA JAPAN 56 |
An old wooden apartment house was to be broken down and then rebuilt using reinforced concrete (RC). RC was chosen because it is solid; for there was not enough space for an outer wall to be built and three sides of the building were facing surrounding streets. The new building would be a two-story terrace house. Both the ground floor and the first floor were to have three rooms.
We used costly insulating materials - quite exceptional in the case of a rental apartment. We did it in order to prevent the building from quickly deteriorating, and to stop the value of the real estate from diminishing. Generally speaking, the financial value of rental apartments tends to drop sharply as the years go by. In most cases, the building is run down by the time the owner finishes paying off the mortgage. We constructed the exterior of the building of phenol-formaldehyde board with a dry seal construction method, which is unusual here in Japan and thus was something of a challenge for us. The holes for outdoor units and ventilators were bored in advance at a factory.
In consideration of the streets and the northern traffic lane, we shifted the second floor backwards. As a result, the building became less oppressive to the surrounding area. Each house in the building is two-storied. The flooring of the 1st floor was made from 85mm thick formed material which was fixed in place by a steel frame - the same method used in the ‘ZIG HOUSE / ZAG HOUSE’. Also, we adopted a concrete wall for the inside of the house, since there is no need to worry about weathering there.
Photos: Matsuoka Mitsuo