Orgel House / Two-family house

The Orgel House is located in Kasugai, and was designed for a family of three generations, and they requested a comfortable but also functional house with a family garden that every member of the family could enjoy. It was important be aware of different lifestyle types and privacy needs, but it was also essential that the family remained close, able to communicate easily and spend time together. And so, inspiration came to us in the form of a music box, or an ‘Orgel’ in German. Two separate buildings, joined at the corner. This conveniently also left space to create a garden shared by both buildings, which meant that both groups could be separate when necessary, but also together when desired. Each building like halves of an Orgel, and the garden, close to nature, where the relaxation, the enjoyment, the ‘music’, happens.

Surrounding the house is a road, so we made the decision to limit views to the outside and maximise the benefits of the internal environment – the garden. The boundaries between the garden and the house proper are separated by a single sheet of glass, which draws light into the building interiors, and gives a sense of weightlessness and transparency to the overall structure. It also draws the family from their rooms and encourages them to eat together, talk together, and play together in a shared space, somewhere bright, comfortable and open, lush with plants and trees. Atop the structure on the roof is a terrace, which can be used for simple gardening, or simply a safe and exciting place for the children to play.

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