The house got its name in honor of the most beautiful flooded meadows of Memu, which are rightfully considered one of the attractions of Hokkaido. The unique natural environment dictated the need to create the most environmentally friendly object, and for inspiration the architect turned to the house-building traditions of the Ainu people - the indigenous population of this Japanese island.
Chise is the name of the traditional Ainu dwelling, which from time immemorial was built on the meadows of Hokkaido. This is a light timber frame house with a gable roof, a low and small rectangular volume, installed without a foundation and covered with straw, poles or grass. This is why chise is also often called the "house of grass" or "house of the earth." And although Kengo Kuma did not use the thatched roof and rammed clay as a floor in his project, he borrowed the basic design and planning principles from tise.
The experimental cottage, which is planned to be "cloned" in the future in different parts of the country, consists of a lightweight prefabricated frame made of Japanese larch and a double-layer membrane put on it. The outer layer of this shell is made of Teflon, the inner layer is made of fiberglass. The space between them is filled with insulation made from recycled polyethylene bottles - a material that provides excellent heat and sound insulation, while allowing daylight to pass through.
Thanks to this solution, the facades and roof of the house acquire a characteristic milky-matte shade. On cloudy days, it becomes more saturated, and on sunny days, the outline of the frame is guessed under the "cloth". The structure of the building becomes even more obvious at night, when the light is on inside, however, all the details of everyday life remain hidden from the eyes of strangers.
The membrane invented by Kengo Kuma allows you to make the dwelling as light as possible, and to subordinate living in it to the biological clock. In addition, such a facade effectively retains the heat inside the house, provided, as in real chise, by the hearth located in the center of the dwelling. The interior space of the house is zoned using traditional Japanese screens. It is dominated by white, emphasizing the natural beauty of the timber supporting structures.
A. M.
