Kaoru Suehiro
NKS Architects Japan
“I study and teach architecture through the design activity. As I have designed architecture like private houses, housing, clinics, town halls and so on, I will extend the design methodology and philosophy for the future through studies in the university. The theme of study is basically related to the word ‘structure’”.
The three major themes are:
- the modernised design of the wooden structure as the production issue,
- the influence of structuralism on modern and contemporary Dutch architecture as a theoretical issue, and
- the conversion design method of the unused modern buildings with fascinating structures as the sustainable issue.
For education, I focus on the practical design training in the university, and also the inter-school and international open activity such as Design Review, which I have promoted.
I also worked as on juries for the public buildings, and as the advisor of Kumamoto Artpolis, the architectural design organisation of the prefectural government.”
- Kaoru Suehiro
Selected Works
Onigiri House, 2005
The small wooden house located in the countryside village was designed for an old couple. The design purpose was to create the maximum volume within the limited cost, and to interweave the house with the surrounding nature.
Because the region is famous for the cider wood production and for the shipbuilding, we decided to use the thick cider board of 50 mm x 245 mm x 4 m as the structure usually used for the ship scaffolding, which was comparably low cost and high quality. The simple tube shape with the quasi-triangular section was chosen for creating the maximum interior volume and for the structural stability. There are the structural connection boxes and the small windows at the top and the two-bottom facets part of the tube.
Through these windows the light and the wind are introduced into the interior, while the tube end has the full opening towards the nature. Since the flooding has happened occasionally in this region, the house is elevated on the foundation poles. The shape of the house seems to be a kind of ark.
Photo by Kouji Okamoto
Club Courtyard House, 2008
This is a house for a couple and 2 children in the rather dense residential area. To keep their privacy and the security, we introduced the club shape courtyard in the two story solid volume. Except the necessary ventilation slits and the entrance gate, there is no big window on the outside walls. On the contrary the facade facing to the courtyard are completely transparent, through which most of the day light comes in.
Kitazato Arena, 2003
The project is a gymnasium of an elementary school in the middle of mountain area. Through a workshop with the community residents, the program had been formed. Since the number of pupils were decreasing, the school itself should have been reorganized for the community. We shifted some rooms from one existing building to the other, so that the whole school is clearly divided into two parts, the school exclusive part and the community part.
Photo by Kouji Okamoto
Ferry Terminal in Matsugae, 2010
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