Hillside house by Okuwada Architects Office overlooks the ocean
A glazed wall faces out towards the Pacific Ocean at this house in the Japanese resort town of Shirahama by Osaka firm Okuwada Architects Office (+ slideshow). The single-bedroom Shirahama no Hiraya house was designed byOkuwada Architects Office for a family who purchased a plot on a hill near the town. Sloping forested terrain surrounds the property on three sides, while the fourth elevation looks over the edge of the hillside to the nearby ocean. The building's single-storey profile and shallow pitched roof also help to reduce its visual impact on the picturesque surroundings.
"Like drawing a line along the mountains, I set the height of the house to feel the beauty of the horizon of the sea," architect Takeshi Okuwada told Dezeen. A road loops around the site and provides access to the top of a gravel forecourt, which slopes down towards the house.
