AR Awards for Emerging Architecture	Commended	December 2007
KAMAYACHI + HARIGAI	House	Yokohama, Japan
While tackling the issue of Japan’s strict planning regulations in a slightly less radical manner than Ghost House by Datar, G House is nonetheless inventive. As such the Jury could not divide them and gave both entries a commendation. While Ghost House unified elements into a single seamless form, this house articulates three typical components of the suburban house: flat plot, private garden and pitched roof. Adding a pedestal and inclined slope to the mix, both the garden and the hut are given a degree of formal autonomy. Entering from the pavement though the boundary defining pedestal, the lower ground level is sheltered and intimate, with kitchen and dining areas addressing the inclined garden. Above this, accessed via a more formal ramped entrance from a bunker-like parking lot, is a single living room. The top floor provides three bedrooms and shared bathroom and lavatory. Internally, circulation extends the house’s curiosity as vertical circulation is not achieved with a single stair. Instead, to optimise the layouts of the upper and lower levels, the route shifts across the plan from single flight to spiral stairs within the single volume intermediate level. This principal living space also has its own garden space, set on top of the pedestal and accessed through its flanking wall. R. G. Architect Seiji Kamayachi + Masafumi Harigai Email ka-@ki-ka.jp Structural engineer OAK Structural Design Office Garden design Nagisa Kidosaki Photographs Masao Nishikawa