Architectural design of a weekend home for a family living in the city center

The plot is situated along the coast in the south of Yokosuka City in Kanagawa Prefecture, allowing the gentle ocean breeze to blow through the trees. A beach is also very close to the site, and on weekends it bustles with locals who enjoy the sunset or activities at the sea.

The building is designed as an extension of the ocean and white sand of the beach created by Mother Nature, and is positioned to make the oceanfront seem like a private beach.

As a weekend home, the building concept is based on the feel of a villa, with a main building, multipurpose annex and garage provided for different purposes. The separated buildings are connected by a floating plate with attached eaves.

A large part of the building is made of granite, selected for its visual similarity to a sandy beach and cut from a stone slab to the size of 500x500 mm blocks to fit the frame's pillar pitch. The walls and ceilings are finished with original plasterwork containing sand aggregates to also fit to the beach motif, and a gradient texture is applied. By using the same materials for outdoors and indoors, the design avoids a separation of these two spaces.

At the client's request, tropical plants like olives and fountain palms were planted, which contrast with the existing trees in the neighborhood while giving a harmonious color palette and make the exterior blend in with its surroundings. Kiso stone from Gifu Prefecture was chosen for the decorative stones scattered throughout the grounds to match the beige color scheme of the sand.

The main dining area features a U-shaped counter and a large custom-made griddle to provide enough space to entertain up to ten guests while enjoying the view of the ocean. Kansai-based SAI was asked to transform a large part of the wall surfaces and the kitchen hood with original textures into objects that match the spatial concept.

The pendant lights in the dining rooms and bracket lights in the bedroom are custom-made originals. The same materials were used to create a resemblance to a sandy beach covered by seawater, but different finishes were employed to add contrast.