Wall-less House

Architect/Firm: Shigeru Ban

Location: Nagano, Japan

-TRANSPARENCY-

To be transparent is to be a barrier.

It is to divide and at the same time experience a common space.

It is a paradox; a barricade that provides no protection, a wall that provides no security.

To be transparent is to dissipate boundaries  and to allow the interaction between different spaces.

It is to invite the outside in, yet at the same time, keeping it at bay.

It allows you to observe and to be observed.

It is the true illusion of an infinite space.

To be transparent it to be an instrument, as you are used to view the world.

-The Wall-less House and its Walls-

To be transparent is to be a barrier.

To be transparent is to be an instrument, as it is used to view the world.

Such an instrument is used effectively in Architecture; the dissolution of barriers provides an uninterrupted view of the world.

A Wall-less house.

Subtly offers you the feeling of confined freedom.

It becomes a paradox; a barricade that provides no protection, a wall that provides no security.

The exterior wall, dividing the interior from the surrounding nature, is entirely clear.

The purpose of this wall is to invite the outside in, yet at the same time, keep it at bay.

This wall allows you to observe and to be observed.

It is a wall that you are able to penetrate through.

This Wall-less House which is positioned on a mountain, faces Japan.

Japan can see you through this wall.

It was designed in order to dissolve boundaries and to allow the interaction between different spaces.

Shigeru Ban shows openness to one or another extreme.

He demonstrates the illusion of an unbound and infinite space.

Illustrating how to divide and at the same time experience a common location.

Through this house, emptiness, purity and infinite space are revealed.

– Questions He asked Himself –

How can I subtly combine culture with architecture?

                I might make a SIMPLE space, an EMPTY space to reveal a glimpse of my culture.

Can location be a part of architecture?

                 Maybe, my simple house can be placed on a mountain so that you can SEE THE   WORLD but…

How can I create a space that doesn’t divide you from the world?

                  Tear the DIVIDERS down

How can you be in two places at once; remain in comfort of a home, and simultaneously exist in the midst of nature?

                 Why can’t you stay at home and see a FRAMED WORLD?

 

Resources:

1) Alvar Aalto: Through the Eyes of Shigeru Ban. Vancouver: Black Dog Publishing, 2007.

2) Krauel, Jacobo. Experimental Architecture (Universe Architecture Series). New York: Universe Publishing, 2004.

3) “Shigeru Ban: wall-less House.” Ume Magazine. http://www.umemagazine.com/issues.aspx (accessed September 16, 2009).

4) “Shigeru Ban: Wall less House.” Architectural Design, 1999, 28-33.

5) “Without Walls.” Architectural Review, May 1998, 73-76.

 

    –A Wall-less house-

 The transparent…

Empty

Transparency is a paradox; a barricade that provides no protection, a wall that provides no  security.                                              

  It is a wall that allows you to observe and to be observed.

The purpose of this wall is to invite the outside in, yet at the same time, keep it at bay.

 Although it can confine you, it still offers freedom because it dissipates boundaries and to allows the interaction between different spaces.

To be transparent it to be an instrument or a tool, as you are used to view the world.

It divides but still allows you to visually experience a common space.

It takes over the true reflection of the area around

…and the Opaque…

Solidity

Heavy

An impenetrable barrier

 This type of barrier constricts and encloses you to a finite space

Provides a dense boundary between you and everything around

The world beyond this barrier becomes expected… not seen

A barrier that restricts your space, movement and vision

Closed, limited space

Obstruct, and impedes

…combined

Together, both the transparent and the opaque materials of the Wall-less House complement each other. The house allows you a horizontal strip of nature because the exterior wall which divides the interior from the surrounding nature is entirely clear. This enables the location to become a part of the architecture. The Wall-less House which is positioned on a mountain, faces Japan, the absent walls provide an uninterrupted view of this world. The world can also see you because of the walls. It is the true illusion of an infinite space.  Shigeru Ban subtly incorporates his culture into this house by creating such a plain house. He created a SIMPLE, EMPTY and limitless space with which purity and infinite space are revealed. By tearing down the dividers, Shigeru Ban shows openness to one or another extreme.  Such an openness that makes you question whether this is a house at all.

No Privacy

No safety

No Walls

 He allows whoever is in the house to be in two places at once; to remain in comfort of a home, yet simultaneously exist in the midst of nature. It gives the essence that there is no barrier between the interior and exterior space.On the other hand, the opaque concrete grounds the house. Both the floor and the ceiling are opaque/ concrete, thus creating a border or an outline that defines the house. The concrete provides the constrictions in the house because it limits what you see. It blocks everything that is above you. It creates a frame to see the nature that surrounds the house.Since the concrete and the glass contrast each other, you get both the effects of the light, open transparency and the heavy enclosing concrete that encases you.  The Wall-less house was an experiment, a play on the effects of the heavy vs. the light, the solid vs. the clear, the permeable vs. the impermeable. The surrounding nature effectively compliments the effect of the transparent and the opaque combined.