瀬田立体交叉点の集合住宅/ Apartments at Seta multi-level crossing

Cuboid Void

A “void” is placed at the center of the site.
This “void” functions as a light court that dramatically transforms the site environment, while also serving as an entrance hall combined with a sloped stair space. In response to the elongated east–west sloping terrain, gently inclined, extended stairs provide direct access to each dwelling unit from intermediate landings.

While courtyard-type configurations have been explored several times in collective housing , in this project we first sought to actively form a self-contained cuboid volume. In recent years, we have experimented with the internalization of the “void,” as well as methods of configuring the exterior in an interior-like manner . Here, however, it is positioned as a more closed composition—a buffer zone that distances itself from the surrounding urban noise.

Nevertheless, openings in the east–west and north–south directions, along with ceiling slits, allow light, air, urban noise, and even smells to penetrate, thereby connecting it to the external environment. Precisely because of its high degree of independence and self-contained nature, it can be understood as a three-dimensional alley-like space that more clearly measures and mediates its distance from the city.