Soil House, Creating an Earth Connection

Taking life experiences as a starting point and constructing a project around them: this was the architectural firm ADX‘s aim when designing Soil House. 

Built in 2019 in the city of Minamisoma in Fukushima Prefecture, the house fulfilled its future owners’ wish: namely to retain a connection with nature. They were among the victims of the 2011 earthquake and, after being forced to move into temporary housing and live apart for a while, they wanted to build a house in a residential district, still in Fukushima Prefecture. The key requirement was for them to have the impression of being close to nature, as their previous house had been located in an area that was particularly rich in plant life. 

Drawing upon childhood memories

And so, Soil House was born, a residence covering a surface area of 145 square metres with a wooden structure and supported here and there by large cones made from earth. ‘Over the course of this project, we discovered that getting rid of the excess earth would be a lot more expensive than we had estimated. Thus, we drew inspiration from a childhood memory of playing with sand and modified our plan, deciding to use the earth as a construction material rather than getting rid of it’, the architectural firm explains. The earth was therefore incorporated into the building by being pulverised onto structures made from expanded polystyrene. 

To strengthen this sense of being connected to nature, Soil House has large bay windows that open onto the garden, and the floor and all the storage areas are made from wood from the region. ‘This house is designed according to the concept of balance between stasis and dynamism; stasis to reflect in silence and dynamism to get to work’, ADX explains. ‘We want this house to encourage people to think about themselves, their family, the region, and society in a comfortable and peaceful way.’

Soil House (2019), a project by the architectural firm ADX, can be viewed on their website.