SADO: A Welcoming and Light-Filled Residential House

Akinori Dansako's Approach to Design

Mr. Dansako's approach to design in the SADO house is influenced by Mr. Sen No Rikyu, the famous Japanese inventor of the tea ceremony. Sen No Rikyu’s tea ceremony concept is not complicated: boil water, serve the customer, and enjoy drinking the tea yourself as well. It is a very simple process, but refined and wonderful. Akinori has taken Mr. Sen No Rikyu’s approach when he designs a house. He loves to create simple living spaces often with a tea room and central pillar and influenced from traditional Japanese techniques. The end results are simple, welcoming, and light-filled spaces.

Akinori always tries to connect living, dining, kitchen, and tea room spaces into one functional room. This is important in the parts of Japan Akinori works mostly in Okayama Prefecture. Here, like in many parts of Japan, space is limited, and people usually have small houses less than 200m2. Akinori loves designing contemporary spaces using an intriguing mix of modern steel and glass with traditional Japanese-style materials, particularly raw timber and tatami mats. Akinori has a hands-on approach to architecture. Once he has completed the design and secured all the approvals, Akinori then works closely with builders to ensure his design is created to his precise design. He spends up to 10 hours a day on building sites, even using his practical skills to help the builder. The outcome must be seen to be believed. If a measurement is more than 1 mm out, Akinori will see that it's corrected.

The site area of the SADO house was 435m2. The ground floor area was 114.26m2, first-floor area 83.43m2, and total living area a meager 197.69m2. The intricate timber framework method of construction is outlined above. However, the key timbers used in the SADO house include Japanese cedar, Douglas fir, and cypress pine. Veneer cladded laminated structural beams provide both natural textures, but importantly, earthquake resistance.

Akinori's SADO house design lifts the spirits - it is light-filled, and yet private. Sustainability is central to Akinori's ethos. Waste is minimized in the design stage wherever possible. Akinori ensures the dimensions of key building components are standard sizes. This is especially important where rooms have tatami mat flooring - the room dimensions must allow the fitting of an exact number of tatami mats so there are no gaps in floor covering. Windows are also standard-sized wherever possible. By orienting the house towards the south, sunlight is maximized. Cross ventilation is used to maximize the coastal breezes and maintain pleasant and cool living spaces. While central heating is a key part of the project, the careful orientation of the house reduces the need to use air conditioning. All exterior walls in the SADO house are insulated with earthquake-resistant extruded polystyrene foam. This has huge energy benefits for the owners in Japan's environment, which features sub-zero winters and very hot and humid summers.

The design stage of the project started in April 2015 and was completed in June 2016, including approvals from the Prefecture Council. The construction stage commenced in August 2016 and was completed by April 2017. The project was located in Okayama, Japan, about 180km from Osaka on Japan's largest island Honshu.

Like many Japanese architects, Mr. Dansako is constantly thinking about the ever-present challenge of designing buildings that can withstand earthquakes and tremors. Mr. Dansako's approach was to use strong Japanese cedar and cypress pine as the key framing timbers. These timbers have excellent earthquake resistance properties, especially when integrated with high tensile metal fasteners and joiners. Another significant challenge was to meet the owner's request for an energy-efficient house that could cope with Japan's long cold winters and its hot summers. The key design feature to tackle this challenge was the innovative use of extruded ceramic exterior walls. These prefabricated walls are designed to allow warm air to rise through a special channel inside the prefabricated wall. This air then flows into the ceiling cavity of the house during summer and escapes, thereby cooling the SADO house without the use of energy. During winter, the wall channels can be closed with a switch to capture the warm air.

Mr. Dansako's approach to design in the SADO house is influenced by Mr. Sen No Rikyu, the famous Japanese inventor of the tea ceremony. Sen No Rikyu’s tea ceremony concept is not complicated: boil water, serve the customer, and enjoy drinking the tea yourself as well. It is a very simple process to enjoy the tea with people but refined and wonderful. Akinori has taken Mr. Sen No Rikyu’s approach when he designs a house.