Miyanomori
Architect: Kengo Kuma and Associates
Location: Sapporo, Japan
Type: Residential
Year: 2023
Photographs: Kengo Kuma and Associates
The following description is courtesy of the architects. On a mountain overlooking Sapporo city, we designed a multi-unit residence. Instead of adopting the typical residential “large box” tower format, we stacked “small house” units along the mountain slope in a stepped hill form.
The “small house” units are staggered in plan to create spaces between adjacent units, allowing the residences to be full of natural light and ventilation and have clear vistas of the surrounding nature.
Locally sourced logs cover the exterior and retaining walls. Log panels that leave rough bark unremoved serve as stay-in-place formwork for concrete, attempting a new method to combine wood and concrete.