Armadillo

Armadillo is located in Kamakura, Japan. With the sea to one side and the other 3 surrounded by mountains, this town’s topography provides ideal protection from enemy. This feature led Kamakura to become the political center of Japan in the 12th century. The clients- a couple and her father - bought the site with its old house four years ago. The clients collect furniture and musical instruments from all over the world, so the existing house is currently full of their collection. Now they have requested a low-cost annex space from us. It's for playing music, relaxing, sleeping well and hosting parties at home in their garden, similar to a weekend house. This location is defined by the existing house, a persimmon tree and the property line delineated by a retaining wall. The diamond shape is produced by these site elements. The first floor opens to the surrounding green landscape; the second floor closes like a lair. The restroom is positioned on the north side of the house and separated from the other spaces. This structure is constructed by many regular triangles, and the second floor is constructed by some surfaces. It's like a monocoque.
Why do we call this house an armadillo? We needed something that could capture the interesting things that we shared with the clients and the intention that we would move creatively towards a house together. The animal reads sunlight and wind, an environment such as ups and downs of the land. And once this information is processed, then they choose a comfortable bed. This animal behavior fits well with the concept of this house and the environment of the site.

＊The word armadillo means "little armored one" in Spanish. They sleep in a lair for 18 hours every day.

2000.Road sponsoring of service mechanism:J-SaPa Design Competition 1st prize Jury:Hiroshi Naito
2003.The Ministry of International Trade and Industry:White glass IH cooking heater　Good design award
　　　special prize　Jury:Kazuo Kawasaki
2004.Yatsushiro City:Yatsushiro shopping street redevelopment plan Competition Excellence prize
　　　Jury:Toyo Ito
2005.JCD international design competition Gold award
　　　Jury:Toshiaki Ishida,Takashi Sugimoto,Kenya Hara,Naoto Fukasawa,klein-dytham
2005.Tokyo Society of Architects & Building Engineers:'House selection Vol.1' Competition Honorable Mention
　　　Jury:Toyo Ito,Terunobu Fujimori
2013.Kanagawa prefecture:57th Kanagawa Architecture Award
Jury:Akiko Miya,Yoshihiko Iida
2014.Tokyo Society of Architects & Building Engineers:Residential Architecture Prize 2014
Jury:Ryue Nishizawa,Kazuyo Sejima,Sou Fujimoto,Tom Heneghan,Kanji Hayashi
2014.AR House Award 2014 Honourable Mention.
Jury:Bev Van Berkel,Yvonne Farrell,William Mann,Abraham Thomas,Catherine Slessor
2014.7th International Design Award / Silver award
2015.10th London International Creative Comtetition / Shortlist
2016.Architecture Aisa Awards for Emerging Architects / Finalist
2016.JCD desing award 2016 BEST100
2017.Environment Friendly Home Design Awards 2017
2017.Royal Academy of Arts:Arup Prize for emerging talent in architecture