TADAO ANDO. KOSHINO HOUSE

“When you look at Japanese traditional architecture, you have to look at Japanese culture

and its relationship with nature. You can actually live in a harmonious, close contact with

nature”

Figure 1： this photo indicates that how kosino house embedded to the site (archidaily,2011)

Koshino House is a house of veritable maze of light and shadow. Tadao Ando seeks to

reconcile the theory of international modernism with the Japanese Zen tradition and

landscape. Tadao Ando wants to make the inhabitant to feel the reminiscent of Ancient

Zen, but in the way of modern architecture. It is located on a mountainside which is

densely wooded, embedded in the ground to let the inhabitant to be immersed in nature.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT. FALLING WATER

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”

Figure 2: it indicates that how Falling Water live with the waterfall

On the other hand, The Falling Water was created by Frank Lloyd Wright. He

strongly use organic architecture to create a strong engagement between building and

landscape, particularly in the importance of interpenetrating exterior and interior spaces

thus placing a strong emphasis placed on harmony between man and nature. 

Both of the building uses modernism in architecture and strongly engage with the

nature to emphasize on the reunion of building and landscape by using totally different

structures but similar materials.

STRUCTURE & CONSTRUCTION

Figure 3: curve that added to the existing rectilinear bodies and the wall construction (Koshino House,nd)

Koshino House is organized into three independent volumes that contains two

parallel concrete rectangular bodies. The two different size of boxed are linked together

by an underground corridor and an opened courtyard. He emphasize on the volume of

concrete wall is because he wants to create a place for the individual. When the

external factors of a city’s environment require the wall to be without openings, the

interior must be especially full and satisfying.(Pritzkerprize,n.d.) The double-height

volume living room was the center core of the building and it shows the importance of

this space compared to the other spaces. Tadao Ando introduced a curve to the existing

rectilinear bodies after completing the construction. This crescent shape atelier is

adjacent to the living room. It creates a sharp contrast to the rigid compositions of the

other two existing bodies. By adding in a curved building, which was not originally

planned, the addition seems to complete the entire composition.(SFU,n.d.) The main

structure of the Koshino House is the fair faced concrete wall. The walls are constructed

on a block-like grid and each block having six exposed holes. The evenly spaced holes

drilled into the concrete slabs to hold the moldings board screws during construction.

The hole also communicate a sense of scale. The texture of the walls are unexpectedly

smooth because of the added luminous coating, contradicting the concrete’s toughness.

Cause of the luminous coating on the concrete wall, the fair face concrete structure are

firm, tranquil and a bit mysterious.

Figure 4: showed the main cantilever of Falling Water (FallingWater,nd)

The basic structure of the Falling Water is the cantilever. The strong horizontal

and vertical lines are a distinctive feature of Falling Water. Wright uses an unusual

cantilever construction which allows him to place the houses on top of the waterfall. The

reason why it still remains famous is because the cantilever construction and reinforced

concrete building was not rarely used during that era.(Khanacademy,n.d.) During that

era, wood construction are not able to construct large cantilever on top of the Falling

Water. So, Wright chose to use reinforced concrete because it can span a long distance

and strong enough to carry the weight. Falling Water uses four main piers or bolsters for

its foundation, three of which are reinforced concrete with the fourth being stone

masonry. Four cantilevered beams project from these piers suspending the first floor out

over the stream. Concrete joists spaced on center span between the beams and transfer

the first floor loads to these cantilevers. To increase the strength of the cantilevered floor

system, an upside down T-shaped beams integrated into a monolithic concrete slab

which both formed the ceiling of the space below and provided resistance against

compression. The cantilevered portion of the second floor consists of two edge beams

with joists and slab spanning between them. Four steel T window mullions support the

south end of the second floor cantilever and transfer its load to the edge of the first floor

cantilever.(Failure,n.d.) Due to the lack of proper support, cracks began appearing in the

balcony floors soon after they were poured. To avoid a complete collapse, an ingenious

system was devised using tensioned cables to correct the problem and stabilize Wright’s

masterwork.

MATERIAL

Figure 5: indicates the uses of the materials in Koshino House (archdaily,2011)

The first impression of Tadao Ando’s architecture is his materiality. He define

concrete as the basic element of architecture, but it can be also very enriching. So, there

is no any irrelevant ornaments and embellishments can be found in the building. The

Koshino House fully utilize the fair face concrete and timber to create the solid and void.

He uses concrete as the wall, timber as the floor. In Koshino house, he created the

enclosed spaces mainly by means of thick concrete wall. His intent to not express the

nature of the material itself, but to use it to establish space. The ingenuity of Tadao

Ando’s walls surface lies in pattern. The reactiveness of the concrete produces the

illusion of a textile surface rather than presenting it as a heavy mass. Unlike how

western architecture present the concrete with its roughness, the way Tadao Ando uses

concrete is to mold them into light homogeneous surfaces. Ando use his own way to

create his own aura of the spaces. Besides, he uses wooden or slate floor as the floor,

because timber is a very fundamental material that represents the Japanese

architecture. By using concrete wall act as the cold factor and timber floor as warm

factor. The inhabitant will have an awareness and this aura will lead them to remember

that human are soft and warm. In addition, He created the Koshino house that combines

concrete with timber as the reunion of eastern and western architecture. This makes the

inhabitant to feel the reminiscent of Ancient Zen, but in the way of modern architecture

but reserving the essence of Traditional Japanese architecture. Besides, a large

rectangular panel windows with steel frames has been opened in the living room hall

which facing toward the stepped courtyard. The natural light that reacting through the

branches of the scattered tree is able to penetrate and bring in the nature into Koshino

House through the large panel window.

Figure 6: indicates that how the material used in Falling Water blends into landscape (learner,nd)

On the other hands, Wright was really inspired by Japanese architecture. Like

Japanese architecture, Wright wanted to create harmony between man and nature, and

his integration of the house with the waterfall was successful in doing so. Wright

incorporated with rock cuts into the living room to mentally bring in the waterfall into the

house. This action was perfectly connected and united the house with the earth. The

exterior of Falling Water carries out a strong horizontal pattern with the bricks and long

terraces.(Perez, A,2010) Wright also emphasized the connection with nature by using

the glass. Wright used a lot of clear glass to allow the outside to flow freely into the

inside. At certain times of day, the glass becomes very reflective and reminds some

people of the mirror-like surfaces of a calm pool of water. At night, the glass seems to

disappear.(Fallingwater,n.d.) The house has no walls facing the waterfall, only a central

stone core for the fireplaces and stone columns. This provides a perspective that leading

the inhabitant eye out to the horizontal line and the forest. Wright even bows to nature by

bending a trellis beam to accommodate a pre-existing tree. Besides, the concrete

surface appear soft ad warm because the pale ochre color of the concrete are able to

match the back of a fallen rhododendron leaf.

CONCLUSION

After analysing the structure, construction method and material of the Koshino

House and Falling Water, we can conclude that both of the building want to deliver the

same message, which is to make the inhabitant live and be immersed to the nature but

with different kind of spatial experience. Both master architect advocate the reunion of

the building and landscape, human and nature. To make it become part of their

everyday life, and not just to look at them now and then. Ando mainly uses light and

shadow as the medium that brings in the nature to the enclosed interior. But for Wright,

he want to create a series of open spaces by using clear glass as the wall surface to

allow the surrounding to flow freely into the interior of the house.

REFERENCE

L, C. (n.d.). Koshino Slides. Retrieved June 6, 2015, from

http://www.sfu.ca/~ckl27/Portfolio/Design/Slides/KoshinoSlides.pdf

Kabra, M. (2014, September 9). Koshino House by Tadao Ando - Architect Boy.

Retrieved June 6, 2015, from http://architectboy.com/koshino-house-tadao-ando/

Metcalf, T. (2011, September 25). AD Classics: Koshino House / Tadao Ando.

Retrieved June 6, 2015, from http://www.archdaily.com/161522/ad-classics-

koshino-house-tadao-ando/

Tadao Ando Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2015, from

http://www.pritzkerprize.com/1995/bio

Fallingwater_Architecture. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2015, from

http://www.fallingwater.org/assets/Fallingwater_Architecture.pdf

Background_On_Fallingwaters_Structure. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2015, from

http://www.fallingwater.org/assets/14_Background_On_Fallingwaters_Structure.p

df

Perez, A. (2010, May 14). AD Classics: Fallingwater House / Frank Lloyd Wright.

Retrieved June 6, 2015, from http://www.archdaily.com/60022/ad-classics-

fallingwater-frank-lloyd-wright/

Meek, T. (n.d.). Fallingwater. Retrieved June 6, 2015, from

https://failures.wikispaces.com/Fallingwater

Khan Academy. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2015, from

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-

americas/modernity-AP/a/frank-lloyd-wright-fallingwater