Ookayama Housing Complex / Tomoyuki Kurokawa Architects

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When designing in Tokyo, a high priority has to be given to access to the public streets as required by the building regulations. Hence, the project focused on providing direct access for all the units and a façade that brings light and wind and gives an emergency route in the case of a dangerous situation. This site has a narrow frontage and a long depth. Thus, we proposed a way of creating an earthen floor space within the dwelling unit, forming a "street earthen floor(Domi Doma)" together with the neighboring units.This peculiar displacement generates a passageway through the linear volumes where light and wind are invited into the back of the site, helping to create a typology of architecture free from the sense of depression and blockage that is otherwise dangerously common in similar site-type plans. On the street level, the earthenware gap connects the bustling town on the eastern side with the quiet environment of the university site on the western back end.This "Dori Doma" consists of two dwelling units connected by a common staircase and corridor, connected to each other via an interior earthen floor. Two units of this composition are interlocked in a U-shape, and the plan is for the two Dori Doma to infiltrate from east to west. Here, four volumes are staggered from north to south in a linear configuration.Text description provided by the architects.This apartment complex is situated in a mixed commercial and residential area in Ota ward, Tokyo. The site is in high demand for rentals and went through reconstruction as a mid-to-highrise residential complex. In a constantly evolving urban life that keeps getting more multi-level and densely populated, it was important to consider an architectural model that would reverse this situation and incorporate the richness of the urban environment.The stacking of the two units gives the aspect of a three-dimensional street, which is meant to create an open landscape for the city and a comfortable urban life for the residents, free from depression and a sense of entrapment of the modern-day metropolis.