We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer about their original and creative design work. is an award-winning creative designer, that makes our world a better place with their original works.
("") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work . Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
: The main inspiration of the design is creating natural beauty of wooden frames which are embraced in Japanese architectures and cultures for a long time.
: The thing we would like to achieve most is giving birth beauty and order of wooden frames. The frames of wood structures found in traditional Japanese architecture including Katsura Imperial Vila express great yet subtle beauty.
: We would like to design and regenerate old architectures based on this concept. This concept of adding beams evenly would be able to apply to most wooden houses and they would be structurally strengthened.
: About a month. We considered the concept of making use of the existing frame from scratch. The idea of adding the beams evenly flashed into our mind while carefully checking the structure and making the detailed drawings of it.
: This design was commissioned. Although we did several regeneration projects, we would like to design this house highly taking care of traditional construction method and making the best use of the old frames and materials.
: Our designs are only for ourselves, and we would not sell or lease them. Rather, we would like to deepen this concept while further studying the history of construction method of wooden houses and to design other old architecture to change them to brand-new one with high values.
: Driven by the mission to regenerate architectures beautifully, we designed this house. I think concepts concerning sustainability are highly demanded for architects. Making the best use of the existing houses is the one of the most valuable solutions for sustainability in the world.
: Although the types of architectures are different, we learned a great deal about the attitude towards regenerating architectures from the works of Carlo Scarpa. We learned a lot from his works including Castelvecchio. The materials of his works are mainly by stones and concretes, not woods, nevertheless his ideas of creating spaces of tender light making use of the given concept really are very suggestive.
: The main target for this design are individuals who have old houses to take care for. Property companies who would like to regenerate existing buildings are also our potential customers.
: The design concepts which further deal with wooden frames for creating beauty, not superficial design, set apart from other similar concepts. Our design could be realized based upon thorough investigations on existing buildings and delicate design mind for materials and light.
: The name has come up to me while watching the final model. This means the functions of the frame especially the beams.
: I always design mainly by sketching by my hand. Based on our concepts and my sketch, we discuss the possibilities of projects over models. After the basic design have decided we make drawings by CAD and create presentations using 3D CGs.
: Although I design to create beautiful spaces, I heavily value the basic concept and scientific approach. This attitude towards design is, I think, most unique aspect. I don’t advance designs without deciding the primary concept.
: I collaborated with staffs of YDS Architects for this design. Several discussions over the basic concept and models with them created the total design.
: We don’t need state-of-the-art technologies for this design. The most important things concerning technology are structural thinking and environmental thinking. The former created simple systematic frame, the latter view cut off parts of the wall and placed new narrow windows which effectively bring the natural light into the space.
: The data about solar location and position of the sun helped us to deal with the natural light and decide where to place new window.
: The most challenging thing of this project is to change parts of the design when the positions the wooden frame and other materials are different from the ones which we intended. We would be able to change the design well on site thanks to the collaborations of contractor.
: I would like to know how our design evaluated in the world. Also by creating presentations and texts for applying the A’ Award, our thought of this design deepens.
: Traveling and visiting architectures always inspire me. While the period of design, I have been to the USA and Mexico. The experiences of traveling abroad and visiting architectures by Louis Kahn, Louis Barragan, Tadao Ando deepen the design.
