Inside Kengo Kuma’s Water Cherry Villa on the Japanese Coast

Esteemed architect Kengo Kuma achieves an abstraction of modern and traditional Japanese form in this seaside home

Built on a volcanically formed coastline cliff just outside of Tokyo, this Kengo Kuma and Associates-designed property sits on 5,300 square metres of land within a national park, so designated for the natural beauty of the surrounding coastline.

When the client bought the site, there was already a house that had been built 15 years before and which the client originally intended to keep. But after persistent waterproofing problems he instead decided to start afresh, building a stunning new villa.

The client approached KKAA after seeing their work for Hiroshige Museum of Art, dedicated to ukiyo-e artist Hiroshige Ando. The brief was simple: to design a house in a functional and Japanese style. ‘He left all of the initiative to us for the design,’ recalls Kuma.

Kuma describes his immediate reaction as ‘to make a building which became united with nature,’ saying that he felt passionately about the opportunity to create a home that could become part of the incredible surrounding landscape.

After 15 months of design preparation that included many 3D and physical models, Kuma and his team were finally satisfied and ready to break ground. Their design concept drew inspiration from the physical sciences, envisaging an array of interconnected particle-like structures scattered across the site. A garden interwoven between the structures would unite the smaller elements into a singular volume.

The architecture also strived to create abstract spaces ‘without breaking the framework of a traditional Japanese style’, according to Kuma. Describing the choices of traditional materials choices, the architect says, ‘we adopted very soft materials like Japanese cedar, cypress, ash, Japanese paper and tatami mats as a way of keeping the building in the framework of the Japanese traditional style. In the interior spaces we filled it with soft indirect light, which is also a feature of a traditional Japanese building.’

The interiors, which collectively comprise 750 square metres, include eight main rooms, three guest rooms and one master bedroom. The property also integrates a traditional Japanese onsen as well as a study room. ‘We were able to give each building the warmth of the human scale, such as the tea-ceremony room, by adopting an archipelago style,’ says Kuma of the scattered structures.

The architectural master plan also intended for interior spaces to interact with the landscape. For example, one guest room and adjoining bathroom have views onto the architect’s favourite cherry tree, while another guest room looks onto an ornamental stone in the garden and the study has its own generous views over a pond and courtyard. A small waterfall and water feature throughout contribute to a natural soundscape. The ‘particle spaces’ flow into one another yet maintain their own special character, while the interlinking landscape blurs lines between interior and exterior spaces as they meld into a coherent form.

Kuma is most proud of achieving abstraction of a modern architectural form while integrating it with traditional Japanese style. Surrounded by nature and integrated within the landscape, the architecture and interiors of The Water Cherry Villa live and breathe Japanese style both contemporary and traditional — a true masterpiece.

Text by Hilary Lancaster
Images by Frédéric Ducout