Penguin Environmental Design

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Harmony between a garden and a house

庭屋一如 (tei-oku-ichi-nyo) – This is the word expressing a harmonious condition of a garden and a house. I think that many Japanese garden designers consider it a fundamental principle.

Traditionally, houses in Japan were designed to achieve comfort in hot summer. This kind of house is a post and beam structure. So, its’ facades can be open widely to a garden so that lots of air and light are taken in. Also, people can see the garden from the inside as if they look at a large framed picture. I think that it is one of the reasons why Japanese gardens were developed as a garden to be seen from the inside of a house.

Enko-ji temple, Kyoto

Also, the house has “Engawa”, which is the border space to marge the outside and the inside. In this space, you can enjoy the beauty of nature as if you are out of the house.

These days, houses are well insulated. Air conditioners make the inside of the house no matter how hot the outside is. Therefore, it is not necessary to make houses open widely to the outside to cool them down.

Yet, we believe that the close relationship between a garden and a house is still important for people. As a team of an architect and a landscape architect, we design houses with “Designing place from the outside in”, our design principle.

Blog

Harmony between a garden and a house

庭屋一如 (tei-oku-ichi-nyo) – This is the word expressing a harmonious condition of a garden and a house. I think that many Japanese garden designers consider it a fundamental principle.

Traditionally, houses in Japan were designed to achieve comfort in hot summer. This kind of house is a post and beam structure. So, its’ facades can be open widely to a garden so that lots of air and light are taken in. Also, people can see the garden from the inside as if they look at a large framed picture. I think that it is one of the reasons why Japanese gardens were developed as a garden to be seen from the inside of a house.

Enko-ji temple, Kyoto

Also, the house has “Engawa”, which is the border space to marge the outside and the inside. In this space, you can enjoy the beauty of nature as if you are out of the house.

These days, houses are well insulated. Air conditioners make the inside of the house no matter how hot the outside is. Therefore, it is not necessary to make houses open widely to the outside to cool them down.

Yet, we believe that the close relationship between a garden and a house is still important for people. As a team of an architect and a landscape architect, we design houses with “Designing place from the outside in”, our design principle.

Japanese + Modern

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