蔵

[kura]

Traditional Japanese storagehouses built from timber, stone or clay used to safely store valuable commodities.
During the Great fires of Edo and a high density of wooden dwellings, there has always been a need for buildings that will withstand fires, earthquakes and time.
Often light wooden extensions are built around the kura, and in such cases the family live in the outside apartments.

The act of dwelling is one of the most basic and continuing human activities. And we, unlike other creatures accumulate a lot of items during our lifetime.
We collect, we inherit and we have necessities.

Many of the houses built in Japan today have a vastly limited lifespan and possibilities for growth and different use. With such limited space in the cities, and so many belongings, we need a change of path in the way we design our dwellings. This project explores the role craft can play trough initiating a dialogue between traditional and contemporary construction, and how different methods of construction facilitates for contrasting engagements with our things. How can we not only store our things, but let them make up the space?

What we store is more than things. It is life, memories, relationships.

Situated in the middle of Shinjuku, The Archive House is drawn with inspiration from the earthen kura typology, and adapting it to a new age of building techniques and new ways of living. These ancient buildings have withstood the test of time, earthquakes and fire.

This house protects not only valuables, but also the inhabitants with its thick rammed earth walls and vault like doors. This half of the house provides safety and privacy. While the kura half of the house is quite strictly organized because of its limited space and the focus on designated spaces for things, the open wooden structure offers an semi indoor/outdoor garden space, divided loosely to give the inhabitants a free space to inhabit the open structure and surround themselves with the things in a completely different way.