From the entrance inward, the short walls define in sequence the master bedroom, living room, an outdoor deck and the kitchen-cum-dining area. The sunken living room breaks the topographical monotony, as well as brings the eye level closer to the external ground view when one is lounging. All open through ample glazing to a shared terrace. Along the rear wall are two bedrooms and an onsen with a private deck. The house’s large, flat, tilted roof covering the entire house extends over external walls to provide shade and shelter. In winter, it protects snow stacks near the window and collects slipped snow at the rear for fuss-free snow shovelling.

 The proposal of a single-storey house used mainly for summertime activities for the client and his friends invites easy step out to nature. Chiaroscuro effects mirror nature’s spontaneity and contrasts, where a blanketed lighting experience is eschewed for comfortable and cosy shadows, dim illumination and accent lighting. For instance, it washes in at the Mt. Yotei side, while seeps in through narrow slits at others. The palette – light Hokkaido cedar structures, plywood furniture and partition walls, concrete floors, dark textured plaster on the longitudinal wall and light-grey textured ceiling paint – also pursues this concept. Each experience in River House considers how to weave poetics and nature.