札幌はここ数日ようやく積雪が続いて帳尻合わせのように冬が帰ってきていますが、ずっと少雪が続いておりました。しかし札幌から少し30kmくらい北の、この家が建つ「当別町」では十分な積雪があって、ほぼ例年並みの環境に触れられました。雪面の反射がまぶしくて楽しい。
真冬の積雪という環境もそこで暮らす人びとにとっては、貴重な「季節感」をDNA的に染み込ませてくれる大きな要素。そういった外部環境との「同心」というのが日本住宅建築の非常に重要な、優越的な要素であることは普遍の真実だろうと思います。そういう生活文化伝統 in北海道ということですが、これまでの北海道の家づくりでは、それはあくまでも「外光の導入」という無機的な機能性だったように思える。冬の外部景観への気遣いはむしろ遮断させて室内の温熱環境保全が優先されてきた。
ところがこのi-works住宅・伊礼智建築では、居間の吹き抜け空間に面して２階にまるで「室内バルコニー」的な、あるいは「縁側」的な空間が仕掛けられていた。「あれ、ちょっと変わった空間だなぁ」と目に飛び込んでくるのですね。
ふつうは居間１階から周辺への眺望が企図されるものだと思うのですが、この住宅では重厚な建具収納が室内側に露出していて、開口部が比較的に閉鎖的に仕掛けられている。外部との「交歓」的な空間としてはその開口部から外に出たデッキ空間に集約・想定されていた。
一方、この２階では開口部は左右方向に幅広く取られていて、ちょうど和風住宅建築での室内の縁側のような空間が仕掛けられている。ここからはさらに外部に出て縁側的なベランダが配置されていた。これはわたしの参観しての実感ですが、日本の伝統的住宅が大事にしてきた「ウチとソト」の融通無碍な暮らし感覚が再構築されていると感じられた。
そしてこの空間に大きな軒の出を掛けて風雪から守っている。１階では当然その屋根から落雪してくるのであえて開口部を小さめにして、外部景観との「対話」は２階のこの空間とする企図かと思った。
こういう空間でしたが屋根は「降りていく」方向なので、天井高は低くなっていく。この写真は２階の縁側への出入りの結界。ちょうど「立った」高さ目線で写真にして見た。ごらんのようにそのままではアタマが通らないので、やや屈まなければならない。家に慣れれば人間はその空間での「作法」を身に付けるけれど、トリセツ的注意は必要かと思った（笑）。そうです、わたし、アタマぶつかっておりました。あ、そういう人はわたしだけでしたが。
English version⬇
The indoor ‘veranda’ space on the second floor of the stairwell - i-works visit 7.
Is the eaves of the large roof a device that ‘cuts off’ the external landscape and allows the visitor to perceive ‘home and countryside’ from the edge? A challenge to the sense of flexible and impervious living in a northern country. ...
Winter has finally returned to Sapporo, as if it had finally been written off after a few days of snowfall, but there had been little snowfall for a long time. However, in the town of Tobetsu, where this house is built, a little more than 30 km north of Sapporo, there was enough snow to make the environment almost as good as usual. The reflections on the snow surface are dazzling and enjoyable.
For the people who live there, the midwinter snowfall is also a major element that imbues them with a precious sense of the season in their DNA. I think it is a universal truth that such ‘concentricity’ with the external environment is an extremely important and superior element of Japanese residential architecture. It is that kind of lifestyle and cultural tradition in Hokkaido, but it seems to me that in Hokkaido house building to date, this has only been an inorganic functionality of ‘introduction of outside light’. The concern for the external landscape in winter has rather been blocked out and priority has been given to the preservation of the indoor thermal environment.
However, in this i-works residence by Satoshi Irei, an ‘indoor balcony’ or ‘veranda’ like space was set up on the second floor facing the living room atrium. The building is a bit like an ‘indoor balcony’ or ‘veranda’ on the second floor.
Normally, a view from the first floor of the living room to the surrounding area would be planned, but in this house, the heavy fixture storage is exposed on the interior side and the opening is set up in a relatively closed manner. As a ‘communal’ space with the outside, it was concentrated and assumed to be a deck space outside through that opening.
On the second floor, on the other hand, the openings are wide in both directions, creating a space similar to an indoor veranda in a Japanese-style residential building. From here, a veranda was placed further outside. This is my impression from my visit to the house, but I felt that the sense of flexible and impervious living between home and country, which has been valued in traditional Japanese housing, has been reconstructed.
The large eaves are hung in this space to protect it from the wind and snow, and as snow naturally falls from the roof on the ground floor, I thought the opening was deliberately kept small, so that the ‘dialogue’ with the external landscape would be in this space on the second floor.
It was this kind of space, but the roof was oriented ‘down’, so the ceiling height became lower. This photo shows the boundary of the access to the second floor porch. The photo was taken from the perspective of just ‘standing’ height. As you can see, you have to bend down a little because you can't pass your head as it is. Once you get used to the house, you learn the ‘manners’ of the space, but I thought it was necessary to pay attention to the ‘tricks’ (laughs). Yes, I had a head-bump. I was the only one who did that.
