Inspired by monkeys: the design house of Suzuki Yamada

/ Architecture /

A family house without capital walls and covered with 34 windows? Japanese architect Suzuko Yamada, responding to the historical national attachment to light structures of the Edo era, designed a configurable residential building, using industrial materials - scaffolding and steel platforms.

The external incompleteness and unreliability of this Tokyo mansion refers us to traditional Japanese kyomatiya houses, which did not have load-bearing walls, and the shell of paper and wood on a light frame was renewed every three years. Life in a seismically active zone instilled in the Japanese an aversion to heavy capital buildings, which in the event of an earthquake were destroyed, maiming and killing people.

Unlike traditional Japanese kyomatiya houses, the roof of this Tokyo house is not covered with straw, but with corrugated metal. The supporting beams are not made of cypress wood, but of steel pipes. Many opening windows not only provide a high level of insolation, but also create natural ventilation of the interior spaces, which is especially important in the summer heat.

To build her own house, the architect used industrial materials - scaffolding and metal platforms. Photo: Yurika Kono

Garden trees managed to grow through the web of scaffolding. Photo: Yurika Kono

The openness of the home to the environment is one of the main topics that Suzuki Yamada, a graduate student at the Tokyo University of the Arts, explores in his work. When designing the Daita2019 House, Suzuko was inspired by the impressions of a trip to Rwanda, where she watched how wild gorillas build their homes in trees, between trunks, branches and vines.

"I thought that by collecting linear elements into a three-dimensional scheme, we can create a place where people can live freely and improvise, like animals in the forest," says Yamada.

From the street, the house looks as if it was unfinished, and the garden trees managed to grow through the web of scaffolding. In fact, Suzuko Yamada completed this project last year and has been living in Daita2019 House with her husband and young son ever since.

Photo: Yurika Kono

Steel beams can be used as supports for trees or railings. Photo: Yurika Kono

A light spiral staircase leads from street level to the third floor. Photo: Yurika Kono

Homeowners can reconfigure steel structures taking into account current needs – build balconies, pull up awnings from the sun, use beams as ladders for harvesting fruit trees or as supports for hanging laundry.

There are no stationary internal partitions in the interior. Photo: Yurika Kono

Thanks to ergonomic furniture, the interior spaces are comfortable for life. Photo: Yurika Kono

There are no blind partitions in the multi-level layout of living rooms. A frame made of pine timber with wooden stairs and plywood partitions - all these functional elements are left open. Ergonomic design furniture, textiles and modern household appliances give the space a residential look.

For a child, Daita2019 House is a huge field for games and experiments. Photo: Yurika Kono

Photo: Yurika Kono

In his experimental house, the architect not only lives, but also works, using the first floor of the house as a studio.

The architect's studio is on the first floor. Photo: Yurika Kono

Photo: Yurika Kono