M House

Waterside House

The lot this house sits on is former farmland facing a reservoir in a residential neighborhood. It is a flag lot with narrow frontage to the street and generous southwest views of the reservoir, offering abundant opportunities for connection with nature. Our design aims to incorporate the natural environment into a richly textured living space.

The building is a simple rectangular cube aligned so its long side faces the pond. Large sliding glass doors in the living/dining/kitchen area overlook the water, and, in combination with an 18-meter-long terrace between the house and pond, create a feeling of unity with it. Because other key spaces such as the bedroom are located on the pond side as well, residents have the sense of being surrounded by nature in their daily life.

Materials were selected to give a sense of nature as well. We intentionally used ordinary formwork to cast the concrete frame because the unfinished texture blends in with the home’s surroundings. We sought out the beauty of natural textures in the building’s finer details, such as window frames that are steel on the outside and wood on the inside. Similarly, the attractive natural weathering of the steel plates surrounding the entryway and the wood slab living- and dining-room tables bring the warmth of nature to everyday life.

Ducks and egrets visit the reservoir daily. The residents watch these graceful scenes from a home that exists in harmony with the natural landscape.