The House Passed Down Through Generations

The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura

THE HOUSE PASSED DOWN THROUGH GENERATIONS

Asano - Izue Architect Office

ARCHITECTS
Asano - Izue Architect Office

ENGINEERING
Sentaro Sakai

LIGHTING
Daiko Electric, Shingo Ishidou

MANUFACTURERS
Daiko, Adobe, Bowl Pond Platz, Jw-cad, Kyoei Lumber, Kitchenhouse, Loop Various Metal Art, Osmo & Edel, Tominaga Joiner, Uchimura Kogyo, Nichimarusangyo

HARDWARE
Bowl Pond Platz, Loop Various Metal Art, Yasunobu Ueda, Masanobu Hanazato

ARCHITECT IN CHARGE
Asano - Izue Architect Office

ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION
Ms-koumu, Sentaro Sakai

FURNITURE MANUFACTURING
Kyoei Lumber Incorporated, Tominaga Joiner, Keiji Tominaga

PLASTERING
Uchimura Kogyo Company Limited, Junichi Uemura

CONSTRUCTION
Sentaro Sakai

PHOTOGRAPHS
Yohei Sasakura

AREA
2000 M²

YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Osaka, Japan

CATEGORY
Houses, House Interiors

The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura
The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura

The client is the family that has passing down their house and garden for many generations last about 400 years. Therefore, the entire site is filled with an atmosphere make you feel long history.

The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura
The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura

The main house was built in the early Showa era (1926-1989) and is more than 90 years old, but the pillars and beams in it are carefully reused from the house in which previous generation lived. It would probably be more than 150 years old.

The pillars and beams were valuable building resources at a time when the transportation network for supplies was underdeveloped and wood felled from the nearby mountains around the construction site was utilized as building materials.

The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura
The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura

Therefore, I believe that to reuse carefully the building materials means to inherit not only their physical significance but also the customs and memory in ancestral land, and it supports the foundation of the spirit of the people of this region.

The initial commission was to replace the aging wooden wall and design an adjoining hanare, but later on, it was decided to renovate the main house, which had been left behind by modern lifestyles.

The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura
The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura

Zashiki, which is a traditional large tatami-mat room, in the original main house is the place to pay homage to the ancestors and to be an occasion for guests and relatives to gather, so we limited ourselves to its original form, but other than that, we enclosed the other spaces with breathable exterior heat insulation to create a thermal environment suitable for modern living.

Although the land readjustment cut down most of the garden trees a few years before I came here, the resulting woody material had been carefully preserved. The cypress logs used as columns for the entrance eaves and attic are made from the stored wood.

The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura
The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura

Nowadays, when building a house, people generally think of it as "buying the land and the house and making it my own," but the idea of taking good care of the house and passing on what was entrusted to us by our ancestors may be the essence of Japanese life.

The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura
The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura


The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura
The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura
The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura
The House Passed Down Through Generations
© Yohei Sasakura


The House Passed Down Through Generations
Ground Floor Plan
The House Passed Down Through Generations
First Floor Plan