AKUMAS HOUSE

This is the Azuma’s House, built in Sumiyoshi, Osaka, Japan. It was designed by the architect Tadao Ando and carried out between 1975 and 1976. What makes this project special is the shape of the terrain, which only measures 57 m². In fact, the print of the building (its area of the top view) only measures 34 m².

Front view of the building
Axonometry Perspective of the building

As seen in the pictures, this building was design to take advantage of the few space left between the two contiguous buildings. With this design, was able to create a full family home using a setting of different floors and including natural light sources as usual in others of his projects.

Crossed section drawing of Akuma’s House

The appearance of both interior and exterior is minimalist, based on raw concrete walls and dark grey slabs. The house has also a little bridge, which connects the two top sides of it. This structure is very useful given the little space available in the terrain. Finally, its rectangular shape makes being in the interior a wonderful experience, enjoying the two main vanishing points created by the only two orthogonal directions.

Ultimately, the plans of the building show the different elements explained before. The measurements make yourself realize the simplicity of the house and at the same time, the complexity impregnated in the challenge of building in such a small space.

Bibliography

https://es.wikiarquitectura.com/edificio/casa-azuma/

https://www.metalocus.es/es/noticias/casa-en-hilera-en-sumiyoshi-casa-azuma-por-tadao-ando

https://www.disenoyarquitectura.net/2012/11/casa-azuma-de-tadao-ando.html