Introducing Two Ateliers, a custom-built home example by Takayoshi Nakamura Architects & Associates, a Architect / Design office in 4-26-27 Utsukushigaoka, Aoba-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa

A house with a multipurpose gallery-cum-garage and a workspace, realized through a hybrid structure combining an LVL timber thin-walled rigid-frame system with reinforced concrete construction.

On a long, narrow and highly constrained site in the suburbs of Yokohama—4.0 m wide, 13.6 m deep, with a site area of 54.07 m² (approximately 16 tsubo)—a live-work residence was planned to accommodate the architect’s own atelier and his wife’s atelier as a ceramic artist. The building’s short-span dimension is just 2.77 m—equivalent to one-and-a-half ken. Within this width, a garage that also serves as the entrance was provided. At times, it can function as a gallery or event space open to the neighborhood; alternatively, it was conceived as a multipurpose buffer zone that could be repurposed in the future for an office expansion or a shop.

To overcome the constraints of the narrow site, a thin-walled rigid-frame structure was adopted to enhance durability while creating an open, highly flexible system, in an effort to achieve long-term adaptability. The hope is that, as its fittings and configurations are updated according to changing uses and times, the building will become sustainable and capable of renewal for as long as 200 years into the future. Structure: Hybrid construction (LVL timber thin-walled rigid-frame structure + reinforced concrete construction); three-story, quasi-fire-resistant structure
Total floor area: 95.32 m² (28.83 tsubo)
Site area: 54.07 m² (16.32 tsubo)