When architects Makoto Takei and Chie Nabeshima (TNA) were asked to design a weekend house 185 miles from Tokyo, they came up with an ethereal, glass and wood mini-tower. Standing three storeys tall amid thick vegetation, it offers uninterrupted 360-degree views, its transparent skin flooded with light during the day and glowing at night when lit from within.
TNA designed rings around the facade so that areas of private space and utilities could be met. The height of each ring was decided by the function concealed behind it. Built on Owners’ Hill, a resort in the Karuizawa forest near Tokyo, Ring House occupies one of the hundred or so plots set aside for city dwellers to build weekend retreats.
I, personally, am in awe at how awesome this is and its no surprise Ring House won “Best New Public Building” in the Wallpaper Design Awards 2008.
