Kikutake Sky House Environment Study

Environmental systems project at The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), instructor John Bohn, 2014

with Joel Wong, Amanda Gunawan and Miwa Espinoza Sunaga

This project sought to study the environmental considerations taken in Kiyonori Kikutake's Sky House in Tokyo. Though simulated analysis of the house's position and architectural responses to environmental stimulus, a consensus was arrived at in surmising the design around a series of tactical responses enacted by the architect.

Once these were understood, the house was transposed into a climate completely foreign to its initial situation. In this case, the Sky House was resurrected aside Lake Taupo, in New Zealand. This allowed for a recalibration of the structure's environmental strategies which both reconsidered their original purpose and recast their strategies anew.

Having registered the ramifications of this transfiguration of the precedent in terms of light, wind and other responses, the difficulties of this translation of location were interpreted as fertile grounds for architectural motives. These subsequent observations lead to a series of tectonic modifications of the precedent to make it more prudent in its response to its surroundings once transposed.

A series of composite images were composed to demonstrate the various energy systems at play in each location. These tempted the boundary between mere visualization and premeditated composition, challenging the conventions of architectural representation as the field rears itself in an age of ever heightened ability in terms of environmental evaluation.

Such composite renderings of the project challenge the orthodoxy with which we often consider the architectural representation of energy analysis. Although we have become thoroughly accustomed to abstracted diagrams of heat and air exchange, which present energy as a series of simplistic arrows, a more considered prerogative of representation allows us to understand the complexity with which energy systems actually interact in the architectural realm.

The foundation of this research nonetheless provided a basis by which to learn and refine typical representational models, such as wind roses and sun direction diagrams. As precursors to the more complex energy renderings, they served as abstract points of calibration by which to tune and understand the efficacy of data presented by the composite renderings.

By studying the precedent in three stages (its original location, a transposed location and that subsequent location with architectural adjustments), the project was able to delve into the specific architectural strategies which made the Sky House well adapted for the setting of its construction in Tokyo.

Therefore, the building was somewhat broken upon relocation. No longer protected by surrounding structures or subject to the humid intensity of Tokyo's summers, the analysis of the precedent out of its initial setting cultivated ideal territory to appreciate the intricacy of environmental considerations innate to its design, precisely by witnessing them fail to deliver the same degrees of efficacy when subject to unfamiliar circumstances of site.

Particular to the case of the Sky House was an analysis of the wind load conditions on its raised massing as well as sun protection. While these suited well the conditions in Tokyo, its new hypothetical re-siting in New Zealand undermined their prowess by subjecting the structure to differing directions of prevailing wind and unfamiliar requirements in terms of ventilation and sun attitude.

In resolving these, we proposed to remove the building's original roof and replace it with a series of variable louvers. These thin slots create a series of microclimates on the buildings interior which leverage numerous conditions of daylighting and degree of wind protection.

Where adhering to the Modernist principles of its original design lead Kikutake to create a homogenous condition of interior space beneath the home's roof, this proposal seeks to sede certain spaces to the elements, creating a variety of ambiances throughout the interior that react differently to sunlight and wind.