The Landscape Architecture of Triangle Layer House

In the heart of Yamagata prefecture, to the east of the main island of Honshu, the firm Maruta Architects built Triangle Layer House in 2017. The architect in charge of the project, Kentaro Kato, wanted to take into account the specificities of this locality: a medium-sized city surrounded by many mountains and, in recent years, victim of a sharp drop in its population that has resulted in unoccupied areas.

A house coated in black

Thus, he avoided designing a house that would be overly imposing and that might look like a solitary liner, but rather created a building that would draw on Yamagata’s great asset: its natural environment. ‘I decided on the location of the building and the openings to attract attention to the magnificent landscapes in the distance’, the architect explains. 

Triangle Layer House is covered in black panels made from galvalume, a zinc-aluminium alloy, used in the region to protect buildings against the snow. The architect believes this neutral tone prevents the construction from standing out too much in the city centre. Another architectural specificity of this house with sharp angles is that each angled wall has a large opening onto the outside, allowing the residents to live in harmony with nature. 

A modular home

Inside, wood and the colour white predominate, a minimalist design carried through by spaces that are not marked out according to their purpose but that adapt to the family’s lifestyle. Thus, the living room is in the centre, with a high ceiling, while two staircases lead to the children’s bedroom or that of the parents, neither of which have fixed partitions.

As such, regardless of where one is in Triangle Layer House, it is always possible to see and hear the other occupants, something the owners specifically desired. The only enclosed spaces are the bathroom and guest room. This modular house is designed to support its residents in their everyday life and adapt to their uses and lifestyle, rather than the other way round.

Triangle Layer House (2016), a project by the firm Maruta Architects, can be found on their website.