The ‘Shell House‘ is an unique structure in Kitasaku, Nagona in Japan designed by Kotaro Ide at Artechnic Architects. The house is a concrete structure which comprises of two stories built within two tubes with oval sections. The house is basically a vacation home and is designed in a way to withstand the humid summers and cold winters of this region.
The ‘Shell House’ takes on a j-shape which is raised above the ground by 1400 mm resulting in the ‘floating’ masses. The villa’s simple aesthetic lends itself well to the traditional Japanese landscape, creating a balance between the futuristic man-made structure and the environment which surrounds it. The entire project took more than 18 months to realize and two and a half years to complete.
According to the architect, “A large shell shaped structure finds itself in the middle of the woods. It is hard to determine what exactly the structure is, and unlike the surrounding caves and rocks, it clearly is not a part of nature – nor is it a ruin. A frame, a shape, made at a completely different place for a completely different purpose. Within this shell shaped structure will one find floors constructed, wall separating spaces, and rooms furnished. The scenery conjures a SF film-like image, in which locals inhabit over an abandoned spacecraft. With time, trees start to grow encircling the spacecraft, harmonizing it into the landscape.”
