Toga House is a modern house located in Niigata, Japan, designed in 2019 by Takeru Shoji Architects.

Description
The site is located in Nishi ward, Niigata city; atop the Niigata sand dune range, formed along the coast around 1700 years ago.

The terrain of this region has height modulations of about 30m and the area has high density residential neighborhoods with narrow roadways while also having its antithesis of large, expansive grasslands in the outskirts.
In these outskirts, we designed a house for a couple and their children, which retains the characteristics of the site, extreme sparsity and the steep height modulations.

The site is 400 sqm, but the surrounding open grassland is several times this area, and there are no future plans to build upon this land.
In this setting, how does one tie in the vast grassland and draw it into the daily lives of the residents, while also giving the house a sense of security"
We started the design process by trying to bridge these two contrasting elements and utilizing the sand dunes to devised a ?possible way of building?.

We constructed this space applying the primitive technique of construction; digging, piling and embedding pillars in sand to construct a sun-shading umbrella.
Digging into the sand, we situated the building inside this shallow excavation.

The excavated sand was used to fill up the surrounding area and create a gentle boundary between the house and the vast, open grassland.

This gives...