ifj

A pastry chef and a social worker live in a house comprised of five huts

Jikka means home for the elderly in Japanese and is the name given to the house by the two women residing there. For decades, they had worked together at a community workshop in Tokyo till they decided to move out to the countryside.

Perched atop a ridge in a forest of 60 feet high Zelkova trees, the architecture of the house is an aftermath of a vision of a structure which interacts with trees.

The house is comprised of five huts varying in size and use. With the kitchen and dining space in the centre, the house has a 10’x10’ bedroom located in the west and a guestroom with an accessible sloped bath in the east.

Overlooking the size of the bedroom, focus can be shifted to the bed, which has a quintessential alignment with the shrubs and flowers outside the window. The kitchen and dining space is spread in an area of 20’x20′ with 30′ high ceiling.

The house is encircled by the ocean in the south, a mountain range in the north and the branches of the 60 feet high Zelkova tree, seen through the skylight at the 30 feet high ceiling. The roof and the exterior walls are cladded with Japanese cedar.

In a decade or two, these two women, currently in their 60s, will move in to the guest room passing on the responsibility of the house to the next generation, moving in to the bedroom. The house cycles and moves on.