Sunroom House in Tsukaguchi is a minimal residence located in Hyōgo, Japan, designed by Fujiwaramuro Architects. A crystalline volume hovers like a pendant in space – not merely illuminating, but transforming the very nature of domestic living. This floating sunroom represents a bold reimagining of the traditional conservatory, lifting what is typically a ground-bound space into the air, where it performs a complex dance with natural and artificial light throughout the day.
The architects’ decision to suspend the sunroom emerged from a series of practical and poetic considerations: cost reduction, volume optimization, and most importantly, a reconceptualization of how inhabitants might engage with a contemplative space. Like Gio Ponti’s suspended elements in the 1957 Villa Planchart, this intervention challenges our terrestrial expectations of architectural space.
The technical achievement here is remarkable. The glass volume serves as both a pendant and a light diffuser, capturing daylight from above and scattering it in unpredictable patterns across the split-level interior. The effect recalls James Turrell’s skyspaces, but with an added layer of complexity – here, the light-manipulating volume floats within the space rather than being integrated into the building’s shell.
Materials play a crucial role in this luminous choreography. The interplay between steel, concrete, and glass creates a constantly shifting visual landscape as daylight transitions to dusk. The exposed structural elements are left to weather and patinate, acknowledging time as an essential design material. This approach reflects a Japanese aesthetic tradition that celebrates the beauty of aging materials, while simultaneously embracing contemporary architectural transparency.
The split-level configuration of the living, dining, and kitchen areas transforms what could have been a simple vertical stack into a complex series of interconnected spaces. This arrangement enables both visual and verbal communication across levels, creating what sociologist Ray Oldenburg might call a “third place” within the domestic sphere – neither purely public nor entirely private.
