Nishiji Gallery and Office / KOMPAS

The project site locates along Chiba-Kaido Avenue in the historical part of Nishifunabashi, Chiba, near the Sengen Shrine on the hill with lush pine forests. The client, an art collector operating a real estate business, planned to build a new building on his parents’ property to accommodate his family’s residence and his company’s galleries & offices. Besides his parents’ house on the northern end of the property, most areas of the linear site closer to the road were relatively unplanned, with an old warehouse building and car parks mixed in the lush vegetation. Thus, our first approach was to organize the entire site so that the two families’ lives and the workspaces coexist comfortably, arranging site circulation and developing a sloped garden moderating the level differences between the two buildings.