A Beat Pack Living Space Concept Designed by Studio LOOP Architect

Beat Pack Living Space window design

This living space project is named Beat Pack. This house design is designed by Studio LOOP Architect in 2008-2009. Which located in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa , Japan , this site cover an area for about 111.25 square meters while the building area for about 54.21 square meters. The total floor area is about 91.58 square meters. For more information about this living space project below!

Along the information technology is progressively changed in past 60 years, the housing industry has rapidly adjusted to it in Japan . A transformation of the Japanese traditional lifestyle is caused by this “forced adjustment”. Then the housing space has been often talked by “nLDK”, n (number of private rooms) L (living) D (dining) K (kitchen). The concept of nLDK is to describe how much the house has a value. The “function” which started to walk alone is resulted by the spatial flexibility and relationship whether private and public among n, L, D and K which is separated and lost.

The architect proposal to these two houses. “WITH” and “BEAT” are try to re-consider and re-organize a quality of the relationship of the nLDK to re-adjust a current and the future lifestyle. Which is opposed to the previous project “WITH”, the house is based on an urban area in Kanagawa , Japan and they are already built three houses in the North, East and West which are less than one meter away from the property line. While in the south, a public park is extends to provide a good natural light into the property. The client family mainly requested the privacy with a sense of the relief, considering in the density situation where the proximate environment is inevitable, especially in small property like here which is just for about 80 square meters.

For the first step which the architect choose is to imagine the ”plaza” inside the house as The LDK which is not like a park which opening to the nature, but more like a Plaza del Campo, Siena, and Plaza del Rotunda, Rome Italy. Those plazas are created by studying the human scale and historical urban fabric system. They are bringing the invisible relief into our mind there, even though they are created artificially. The architect started to design how we can bring the illusion which the family can feel in being outside when they are living in this house.

Create a 5 meters double volume plaza (DLK) is the answer. This 5 meters double volume plaza is exist as a family who can share all the activities such as cooking, eating, playing, studying and even running. The opposite to the plaza (LDK) is placed in the center body of a house, private rooms which consist of a master bedroom and kid’s bedroom placed in the different levels and the service rooms such as bathroom, toilet and the storage, surround the plaza and it is act as a buffer zone between the outside and LDK to stabilize their day life from the environment around the house.

With no wall and strengthens of a unity of the space, the loft space in the second floor is also connected to the double volume LDK space. In addition, the interior elevation of the square windows of each private room, a white spiral stair in the center, and natural light are penetrating from a high window and a skylight in the loft space which is leads to the atmosphere and makes the client family is feeling being outside. Since the architect has to find a solution at the low cost budget, an exterior skin has to be in one material and thought the house should be a mass and a unity object. The architect chose a black color which is makes its existence which is appearing in the urban environment.

In the proximate urban area like Tokyo, the people are always looking for the private space where they can hide and disappear from the outside activities. Here the architect is started to design how a house can settle a boundary of living activities that are happening in outside and inside every day.

Architects: Studio LOOP
Location: Sagamihara City, Kanagawa , Japan
Site Area: 111.25 sqm
Building Area: 54.21 sqm
Total Floor Area: 91.58 sqm
Project Year: 2008-2009
Photographs: Courtesy of Studio LOOP