オープンスカイハウス ／ 鈴木理考建築都市事務所

　　​It is a small house for a family of five, consisting of a couple and their three children. Urban land prices are high, and there is a blatant system of deviation depending on location and buildable area. The harsh reality was that, despite managing to acquire the land, they could only build a small house (with an allowable total floor space of 61 m²), with a maximum of 12 m² per person. 　　However, to escape this urban economic logic, the family chose an unconventional and daring lifestyle, living without a roof over half of the house. This house has no roof over nearly half of its area, including the “living room.” 　　As a result, everyday life here is exposed to the only and overwhelming urban wilderness: the sky. Rain beats down on the house, and the wind blows in. Snow falls, and insects come. The daily exposure to the unpredictable world would be incomprehensible to those who think of a house as an asset or a tool. 　　The family, however, enjoys this life happily. Using the fittings of a sailboat, they maneuver the awning (and sometimes the rain shelter) like a sail, enjoying the freedom of life that only this house can offer. Children run around with umbrellas on rainy days, make a pool, and dive in on hot days. In the summer, they sleep in sleeping bags under the night sky with their friends. Adults also gather together to build a fire, roast something, and enjoy the smoke-filled air. 　　The couple, who also work in interior design and general contracting, drew the first sketches of the idea themselves. They also enjoy buying and making their furnishings, so they utilize the small hardware and lighting they have collected to construct rooms, paint parts of them as their children grow, and install awnings themselves. They will continue to live in the house, building the necessary parts of the house for their lives at any given time. 　　​The exterior of the house is simple, featuring siding and residential sashes similar to those found in surrounding houses, which gives it the appearance of a typical house. The plan is also small and simple. However, with the roof cut off, the daily life of the house is joyful and intense. Connected to the sky and the atmosphere, the house resembles a small ark navigating the city, adjusting its awnings and living arrangements independently. (Yoshitaka Suzuki)