Mansuke House is a 250 years old farmhouse. The owner “Mansuke” offered this house for the Workshop with the hope for its creative re-utilization as the family decided to move out to the city. The house survived a powerful earthquake in 2004 standing on its feet although none of the columns are vertical nor the beams are leveled and the whole structure is twisting as it is leaning increasingly towards north east winter after winter, with the help of snow piles that accumulate on the slope facing the western facade.
The project’s aim was to convert this house into an open-house for semi-communal use, like a Pub that stands for Public House, it accommodates local gatherings with drink and food, and will have extra rooms above for occasional over night staying of friends and guests.
Cleaning, stripping and insert (2007)
We have cleaned a huge volume of dust accumulated over years behind every ceilings, smelling a 250 year-old vintage air.
We stripped inner skins of the house to reveal structural spaces and textures of mud, smoked zelkova beam, bamboo, stone foundations and thatched roof hidden beneath the modern materials.
We Inserted a big tree as an inversion of tree-house, supporting a house from within while opening a vertical volume of space, visualizing the internal height of the top beam.
Furnishing and cooking (2008/09)
We made an open stove/grill for drinking and eating. As well as a rear window to enjoy the landscape behind the house so now it is also visible from the front.
We built one sliding furniture equipped with steps, a little platform, a small private observatory, a rear door to the garden, all compress into one.
Opening and Extending (2009)
We built “Light Room”. It replaced the western facade of the house as a main entrance intending to work as an inner garden of the house during the winter period.