I R E L A N D   H O U S E,   T O K Y O

Ireland House, Tokyo. Competition 2019.

Ireland House is imagined as an urban garden, seeking to exploit the environmental benefits of well-organised outdoor spaces in the city. The building does not stand out for its size and form, but rather seeks a gentle relationship with its neighbours. By keeping the height below the 10-metre datum, the entire site is built as a singular form and is then carved to create the entrance, staggered voids and courtyards to provide light and visual connections between the floors. 

A deliberately robust and economical architecture is sought. The structure draws from traditional Japanese forms of timber frame construction grid and is composed of multiple smaller timber frames or tables that are stacked and connected so that loads are distributed through a whole system of supports. This structure is open and flexible and is expressed and visible to the inhabitants of the buildings and its proportions places an emphasis on the human scale. The façades are configured as layered screens of timber, providing measured enclosure and privacy and provide a depth for planting.

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