HO-House / Kubota Architect Atelier

Text description provided by the architects. Architecture is a vessel that carves out a tiny space in an infinitely expanding universe. For the heart to truly grasp that the inner space is also part of the universe, the architecture must be alive. The site is located in Takarazuka City, in the southeastern part of Hyogo Prefecture, where there are mountains full of greenery, several clear rivers, and many ancient tombs. In the center of the city, there is the Takarazuka Revue, which is composed entirely of women and is very much loved by the local community and is renowned for its excellence.

This house is located near the Takarazuka Grand Theater, the home of the troupe, in a residential complex about 50 meters closer to the sky. The site is completely surrounded by various houses. However, the sky’s vastness and closeness were overwhelming, and the clear blue sky shook my heart.

Tasked with assessing the relationship between nature and the mind and engaging the sky, I am to create an architecture in this place. The space, created by folding white, thin slabs that have lost their mass and texture, shifts the axis of sensory interpretation from figurative to abstract and deepens our understanding of formless events.

The inside-outside continuity facilitated by the building, and the abstract phenomena that result from its relationship with nature, make us aware of the identity hidden deep within nature and the mind and shorten the distance between the two at once, merging them into one. These things cancel out the small, closed flow of the future, open the heart, and make everything infinite and free. The mind’s boundlessness is a transcription of the endless, magnificent universe, and nature and the universe’s eternal quality brings freedom to our mind.