Kidosaki House

Tadao Ando – Tokyo Japan, 1985-1986

This is a house for three families, for a husband, wife and their respective parents. The program was to design a house that would allow the three families to live together, while preserving the privacy of each family. The entire design consists of a cube, 12 meters per side, in the center of the land and a curved wall in front of the entrance.
The blind wall of the front facade follows the profile of the street, curving inwards to introduce the entrance of the house. A space that has two staircases, one up to the second floor "house" and the second down at garden level, through which access is gained to the other two floors. This internal courtyard helps maintain the independence of each living space.

The three-story building is based on a square grid, the intention was to create complex spaces within a simple composition. In this residence the space is developed around the courtyard.
Ando takes the idea of ​​the courtyard from traditional Japanese townhouses but, using concrete, develops multi-level courtyards, something that cannot be achieved in wooden architecture.
These courtyards are spaces to introduce nature to the three families and ensure those families have their privacy.

The rooms overlook the courtyards, but always with different windows, low windows and floor-to-ceiling windows, are used in combination so that people in different rooms never find themselves looking directly at each other.
Ando arranges the windows symmetrically and clearly establishes the frontality; he also takes ventilation into account in the design of the sash.
With double sliding windows, use hidden masks to solve the problem of both design and functionality.
The trees, together with the vines and shrubs planted in the gardens and scattered terraces, create a landscape that responds to the seasons and provides a natural backdrop to everyday life.