Appearing from above like an abstract, fallen snowflake, House in the Forest is one of the most unique residences seen in Niseko to date.
With a brief to provide tranquility in nature for extended family holidays, but otherwise almost complete artistic license, Tokyo-based architect Florian Busch embarked on a creative journey where the architecture was merely the stage for the main protagonist – the forest.
The home is the Niseko base for a Malaysian family who had visited many times, and now has a child attending Hokkaido University. With this “excuse” to visit Niseko more often, they wanted to build a home-away-from-home immersed in nature. The site was selected due to its seclusion yet proximity to the slopes, five-minutes’ drive away, a natural cold-water spring, and hundreds of Japanese larch trees.
“As nature lovers, our main requirement was that we preserve as many trees as possible,” the owner says.
”The house needed to be not only surrounded by trees but amongst the trees
“Thus the name, ‘House in the Forest’.”
Following the brief, Busch wanted to ensure a deliberate focus on the immediate surrounds. Meanwhile, he needed to achieve a solution to the dichotomy of occupants being together, while enjoying solitude at the same time.
Drawing on Japanese design fundamentals with an emphasis on the horizontal plane and “borrowed” scenery, the radial branches of the house create pockets of seclusion as living spaces and bedrooms, each offering entirely different vistas that change season to season, and even day to day. The connection of these spaces creates spatial fluidity, which makes the house, in itself, a way to explore the site.
Busch says House in the Forest is different to many architectural projects in Niseko that focus on far views.
“Many buildings in Niseko seek views to the mountains, most prominently Mt Yotei, whereas House in the Forest’s focus is on its immediate environment,” Busch says.
“And unlike in many buildings, where the outside is essentially shielded and reduced to a picture on the wall, the relationship with the surroundings here is much more intensive and dynamic. The architecture, beginning with the placement at the edge of the clearing and on the gentle slope, creates an immersive experience of the area’s powerful and beautiful seasonal differences.”
To imagine how the structure might meld with its location, the design process involved walking the wooded site through the four seasons. Busch says the end product conveys the essence distilled from those many walks.
“At the end of a complex process, driven by both intuition and rigorously following the logic of the site, the house responds to its surroundings in a natural, unpretentious way,” says Busch. “The architecture is not overpowering but has grown with the landscape. Moving around the house, the essence of these very first site visits can be felt. It caters for a basic human desire: oneness with nature.”
This article appeared in Powderlife 2022
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