Daylight House
“Daylight does not simply indicate light from the sun, but refers to the beautiful light throughout the day.” (37)
The Location
The Daylight House was built in Yokohama in the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan.
The Client
The single storey residential project was designed for Keigo Nishimoto and his family in 2010 and was completed in early 2011. (39) It was designed by Takeshi Hosaka.
The Story
The home was built to house the family of four who chose to build their home on a site that is burrowed in between and surrounded by a “mixture of detached dwellings and 10-floor condominiums and office buildings.”(39) It is also a five minute walk from the rail station (40) and according to Frearson A (40) The building was structured by laying a basic grid (approx. 1500mmx1600mm) over the site, and using a the volume of a single high-ceilinged room with a bedroom, kids’ room and study partitioned off using fittings approximately half the height of the ceiling. The expanse of the entire ceiling can be felt from any room.
The architect and practice felt it was crucial to allow daylight to flood the house especially given its challenging location and so installed skylights, “Light from 29 skylights (approx 700mm square) installed in the roof illuminate the room as soft light diffused through the curved acrylic ceiling plates.”(37)
The Architect
Takeshi Hosaka was born in the Yamanashi Prefecture in 1975 and went on to study architecture at the Yokohama National University where he received both his bachelor and master’s degree. (41) He established Takeshi Hosaka Architects in 2004, three years after completing his master’s degree. (41)
According to the practice’s website (41) Hosaka was a “visiting lecturer at Kokushikan University, Hosei University, Yokohama National University, Tokyo University of Science, and Kogakuin University and now he is associate professor at Art and Architecture School of Waseda University.”
Hosaka considers the effect of natural light in all of his projects “especially natural light such as direct sunlight, indirect skylight and moonlight in the site were carefully observed and took into the architecture effectively.”(41) This can be seen throughout projects such as Love2 House, Shonan christ church, Daylight House and Inside Out House where the different qualities of light, moonlight and the location of the building are taken into consideration.
The Location and Daylighting
The Land of the Rising Sun, named so because the kanji (the most complex of the three Japanese alphabets, derived from Chinese characters) for Japan (日本) means ‘origin of the sun’, stemming from the fact that, “Japan is located east of China and appeared to be the place from which the sun rose”(42) is the closest to the equator of all three projects in this report. Despite its location, Yokohoma receives approximately 70 more hours of sunlight than Bornholm throughout the year at 1870 hours per year (43) (figures may be slightly inaccurate). However, many praise Japan for having great quality light, ranging from sunrise to sunset. (44)
The Critique
The Daylight House is set in an urban area surrounded by buildings that take most of the sunshine and daylight. However, Hosaka found a solution in which he lets the building play with the light it receives and brings out the best qualities in Japan’s beautiful light.
As with any architectural project that makes an effort to incorporate adequate daylighting in its design, the Daylight House tries to cut its energy consumption by making building fully lit until the need for supplementary light becomes justified. With two floors, its strategic design unifies the whole building under its skylit ceiling. In efforts to reduce the heating and cooling energy costs of the building the roof lights are equipped with an
air space between the acrylic surface and the roof, and forced air is used to eject air heated by the sun in summer out of the building, while movement of the air is stopped in winter to use the air layer as a thermal buffer to ensure the thermal environment inside is stable.(39) The skylights therefore serve an aesthetic and practical purpose.
Due to the nature of the project, the orientation and location of the house are not disclosed. It is safe to assume, given the description of the surroundings such as the office buildings and its location in a dark valley created by the buildings (39) that the house would not have received the potential sunlight that it could have if it was modelled as a normal building. The design of the building overcomes this and uses all of the daylight available as the sun climbs the sky. Unfortunately the building doesn’t seem to incorporate light reflected from the ground like the Wren Library and the Green Solution House do. This is understandable since there is not much space for light to touch the ground.
(38)
Due to the nature of the project, the orientation and location of the house are not disclosed. It is safe to assume, given the description of the surroundings such as the office buildings and its location in a dark valley created by the buildings (39) that the house would not have received the potential sunlight that it could have if it was modelled as a normal building. The design of the building overcomes this and uses all of the daylight available as the sun climbs the sky. Unfortunately the building doesn’t seem to incorporate light reflected from the ground like the Wren Library and the Green Solution House do. This is understandable since there is not much space for light to touch the ground.
(38)
The light inside the Daylight House is well dispersed and provides good visual comfort. There is no mention of visual glare and small windows that face outside are located in each room. The light is clearly well distributed by the time directional beams enters the house allowing only vivid light to dance between the ‘four walls’. The lack of colour within the building with its white vaulted ceiling, larch plywood wall and mortar floor ensure that “The house provides a rich experience of the beauty of the light over 24 hours.” (37) For instance, as described by the authors at Divisare (39), “the change of the sky color when morning dawns, completely bright sky, time zone of direct sunlight, shadow of the sun by cloud movement, sky color during the time zone of sunset, moonlight and so on. It has become ordinary at this home to feel the night sky through the ceiling when putting out light and retiring for the night. The projection of the change of 24 hours on the ceiling surface enables the home to always provide an atmosphere to be able to feel the change of outside nature even while staying inside.”
Overall, the Daylight House not only brings the outside in, but it allows the occupants to feel as though they have transitioned into a different place. The only main downside of this project is what makes it unique, the windowless walls about the building however it is the quality and the character of the light that adds the view to this house would be lacking. Out of all three projects it would rate 4/5 stars.
References
35. Nacasa&Partners Inc. TAKESHI HOSAKA architects [Internet]. c2020. [cited 2020 Oct 27]. Available from: http://www.hosakatakeshi.com/english/works-projects_en/daylight_en.html
36. Daylight House | Takeshi Hosaka Architects [Internet]. c2020 Archello. [cited 2020 Oct 27]. Available from: https://archello.com/project/daylight-house
37. TAKESHI HOSAKA architects [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 24]. Available from: http://www.hosakatakeshi.com/english/works-projects_en/daylight_en.html
38. Frearson A. Daylight House by Takeshi Hosaka. Dezeen [Internet]. 2011 Sep 28 [cited 2020 Oct 27]; Available from: https://www.dezeen.com/2011/09/28/daylight-house-by-takeshi-hosaka/
39. Takeshi Hosaka Architects· Daylight House. [Internet]. Divisare. 2013 [cited 2020 Oct 24]. Available from: https://divisare.com/projects/223431-takeshi-hosaka-architects-nacasa-partners-inc-daylight-house-yokohama-japan
40. Frearson A. Daylight House by Takeshi Hosaka. Dezeen [Internet]. 2011 Sep 28 [cited 2020 Oct 26]; Available from: https://www.dezeen.com/2011/09/28/daylight-house-by-takeshi-hosaka/
41. TAKESHI HOSAKA architects | ABOUT US [Internet]. Takeshi Hosaka Architects. [cited 2020 Oct 26]. Available from: http://www.hosakatakeshi.com/japanese/about_us/about_us.html
42. Bagarino C. Where Does Japan’s Name Come From? Culture Trip [Internet]. 2018 Jan 6 [cited 2020 Oct 26]; Available from: https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/where-does-japans-name-come-from/
43. Climate W and. Average monthly hours of sunshine in Yokohama (Kanagawa), Japan [Internet]. Weather&Climate. 2019 [cited 2020 Oct 26]. Available from: https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-hours-Sunshine,yokohama,Japan
44. McCulley K. Japan: Home to the World’s Most Beautiful Light [Internet]. Adventurous Kate. 2020 [cited 2020 Oct 26]. Available from: https://www.adventurouskate.com/japan-home-to-the-worlds-most-beautfu-light/
36. Daylight House | Takeshi Hosaka Architects [Internet]. c2020 Archello. [cited 2020 Oct 27]. Available from: https://archello.com/project/daylight-house
37. TAKESHI HOSAKA architects [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 24]. Available from: http://www.hosakatakeshi.com/english/works-projects_en/daylight_en.html
38. Frearson A. Daylight House by Takeshi Hosaka. Dezeen [Internet]. 2011 Sep 28 [cited 2020 Oct 27]; Available from: https://www.dezeen.com/2011/09/28/daylight-house-by-takeshi-hosaka/
39. Takeshi Hosaka Architects· Daylight House. [Internet]. Divisare. 2013 [cited 2020 Oct 24]. Available from: https://divisare.com/projects/223431-takeshi-hosaka-architects-nacasa-partners-inc-daylight-house-yokohama-japan
40. Frearson A. Daylight House by Takeshi Hosaka. Dezeen [Internet]. 2011 Sep 28 [cited 2020 Oct 26]; Available from: https://www.dezeen.com/2011/09/28/daylight-house-by-takeshi-hosaka/
41. TAKESHI HOSAKA architects | ABOUT US [Internet]. Takeshi Hosaka Architects. [cited 2020 Oct 26]. Available from: http://www.hosakatakeshi.com/japanese/about_us/about_us.html
42. Bagarino C. Where Does Japan’s Name Come From? Culture Trip [Internet]. 2018 Jan 6 [cited 2020 Oct 26]; Available from: https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/where-does-japans-name-come-from/
43. Climate W and. Average monthly hours of sunshine in Yokohama (Kanagawa), Japan [Internet]. Weather&Climate. 2019 [cited 2020 Oct 26]. Available from: https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-hours-Sunshine,yokohama,Japan
44. McCulley K. Japan: Home to the World’s Most Beautiful Light [Internet]. Adventurous Kate. 2020 [cited 2020 Oct 26]. Available from: https://www.adventurouskate.com/japan-home-to-the-worlds-most-beautfu-light/
