Case Study: Rokko Housing I, II, III by Tadao Ando: Introduction of Modularity in Housing Complex

Site Location:

Site Co-Ordinates: 34.72492416009343, 135.22747308790773

Site Location: Rokko Housing I: 3 Chome-14-12 Shinohara Kitamachi, Nada Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 657-0068, Japan

Rokko Housing II: 3 Chome-14 Shinohara Kitamachi, Nada Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 657-0068, Japan

Rokko Housing Ill: 3 Chome-2 Shinohara Kitamachi, Nada Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 657-0068, Japan

Context: Hyoga, Japan

Airflow In summer: East to south West

Winter: North to South

The blocked North side prohibits the winter wind, which is pleasant for this housing. Also, there's no ventilation in the north.

Temperature in Summer - 25-32 Degrees

Temperature in Winter- 12- 22 Degrees.

Direct sunlight Insolation probability in this site - <40%

Rokko Housing: A Journey With 3 Housing:

Journey:

Architect Tadao Ando inspired Rokko Housing from his travel experiences to the white Mediterranean town of Thira, Santorini, Greece. There, small white dwellings are built on steps along the slope, all facing the sea. They boast compact community life and privacy for each dwelling while enjoying the beautiful vista.

Rokko Housing is an ambitious project built on steep escarpments. It takes advantage of the beautiful views open to each dwelling and private lives spun around public areas within the building. It was built in 3 phases over a long period, and the journey started with studying the place by walking every corner of the steep site.

Rokko Housing I, II & III:

The sets of houses I, II, and II are located in plots neighboring each other on Mount Rokko, on the slopes of the city of Kobe. The houses are built on the hill, following the slope.

« The first set is at the foot of the mountain, built on a hillside facing South, where you can enjoy a great panoramic view of the port of Kobe and Osaka Bay.

The Rokko II complex is four times higher and is located above and to the left of the first set.

« For the third is three times larger than the second. Rokko III is built over the previous two.

Architect: Tadao Ando

Built-in: 1981-1983, 1989-1993, 1997-1998

Building Type: High-rise Housing

History & Concept:

While remaining within the tradition of modern composition, the emphasis of self-taught Japanese architect Tadao Ando on the natural and geographical context and the weight of its historical and cultural heritage are the stilts on which they based their entire work. The harmony between nature and architecture is a current of traditional Japanese culture. This is how nature is one of the main concerns of Ando, who is always trying to integrate with the interior of their buildings through courtyards and gardens that include light, ventilation, and rain. These works, in particular, have particular relevance.

The first set was born Rokko Housing sleep Ando, making this step building along the slope of the mountain, where every house had contact with nature, differentiating between a skyscraper or any other structure in height.

Built the first and second sets, the architect began with the third project without any client. After the earthquake, all factories in the area collapsed and were standing homes. It was there that captured the third set.

Rokko Housing I: Design Principles

« The 60-degree slope site requires the mass housing of 18 maisonettes.

« Ando changed his mind about the proposal to build on the ground as he thought the slope had more potential.

« Spatial diagrams of the public zones developed on each level. While adjusting and breaking the symmetrical composition of 5.4m x 4.8m following the topography, crevices gently articulate the whole and act as public spaces.

« The shape of the slope is converted into geometric forms. Architecture with an appearance similar to that of an Italian hilltop town. The slippages in the plan and section, generated due to adjusting the simple geometric units to the slop, give hints for the composition.

Rokko Housing I: Design Module

« Composition- The Units

« The building comprises framed construction units of 5.4m x 4.8m.

« Symmetry forms the base of the plan.

« The groups of units are drawn apart to the north and south, opening an intermediate zone between them. This forms a large terrace on the slope used as the Central Plaza.

« Through the method of shifting and stacking units, the composition of the plan, in combination with the stacking configuration used in elevation to follow the slope of the site, seeks to generate three-dimensional gaps in the composition. These gaps become the terraces for individual dwellings, the common plazas, stairways, and paths cutting fissures into the interior of the architecture and creating opportunities for nature made more vivid to flow into its architectural frame. They also play the role of opening an air hole into contemporary living space.

« The geometry introduces a dynamic structure into the foundations of the architecture.

The module strictly maintained the Public, Private, and semi-private spaces, creating different transparent boundaries.

Rokko Housing I: Architectural Features: -

· Based on maisonettes that entirely use the slope, the dwellings have many variations created by introducing roof terraces into the plans.

· The fissure-like spaces between the housing units are buffer zones that delineate a subtle gradation between public and private but also function as devices that draw nature into the building.

Rokko Housing II: Design Principles

The objective of Rokko II was to develop and deepen the new character of collective housing that was attempted in Rokko I further. It could not merely be an expansion; Rokko I and Rokko II were to stand in a relationship, not of addition but multiplication, forming a new totality.

In the transition to Rokko II, Rokko | was incorporated as a unit within the action of a larger geometry. A pivotal movement of 26 degrees around this axis opened a wedge-shaped void between Rokko | and Rokko II, where trees were left as they were.

The addition of a leisure pool for residents of both complexes has given the product of multiplication not only a spatial but also a functional character.

Rokko Housing II- Design Modules & Planning Pattern:

« The overall composition of blocks formed by units of 5.2m x 5.2m is formed by three of these blocks, stacked one above the other, shifted to follow the large stairway that climbs the slope, with one volume below and two above.

« The space between the upper and lower blocks is connected by a middle level in the grid, which forms the project's public space as a whole, along with the north-south stair, with the function of a void for the whole.

« A gap of one span with a north-south orientation was opened in the middle of each block, and the blocks are not entirely self-contained. This gap affords light and ventilation to the central units of the block and creates space for everyday use within the block. The gap also links each block to be connected with the central stair or to the middle level.

« Typical Modules Connected by Open Staircase with Every Functionality.

« Ando uses this kind of structure on the open terrace for the first time.

Rokko Housing II- Architectural Features & Innovation:

Technological Innovation

« To provide easy access for the physically disabled, diagonally moving elevators were installed. The site for Rokko Il is larger than the previous one, and computers were used much more extensively for plan simulations and the analysis of ground conditions over a large area of slope extending beyond the site.

« To ensure the optimum possible use of space available, efficient and compact designs for mechanical equipment were developed.

Rokko Housing III: Design Principles:

« The third phase is a large project, approximately seven times the size of the second phase.

« Here, Ando sought to lower the cost by introducing prefabrication. Besides low-rise buildings with courtyards, there are high-rise buildings for the first time.

« As third in the earlier two phases, the spaces between buildings are designed as shared spaces, but in the phase, the stepped path in the north-south direction following the site's slope and green areas that extend in the east-west direction criss-cross in plazas.

« The three phases are development projects for different clients on different sites, carried out at various times.

« Ando's ability to endow the three projects with a harmonious, continuous townscape commands admiration.

« He has analyzed the relationship between individual elements and the group and has translated the principles for combining units in a housing complex into clear rules of spatial composition.

«The general composition of Rokko III begins with a central axis turned 13 degrees from the axis of Rokko II. The void these two axes open will reveal itself in an enormous open area and garden at the top of the stairs.

« Each housing block has the same volume as the blocks in Rokko II. Three structures stacked vertically form one group. The groups enclose an open plaza, the whole forming one "town."

« The corners of each block have been cut away to create a common terrace space. The dwellings are in an L-configuration facing this terrace, and each dwelling has its inner court.

« The many levels at which people gather and live are articulated and interconnected as well by the expansion and contraction of the grid's geometry. The voids at the scale level also open the grouping at that level to nature.

The Agora

« In Rokko I, the plaza concept introduced in Rokko I and II materializes in a more evolved form. Agora is interpreted as a place not only for the gathering of immediate residents but also open to the surrounding town.

« Located at the top of the stairs and occupying the largest part of the plan, this plaza contains trees and a waterfall.

« The dwellings will be nestled close to or blended into this open space.

The road network is pretty straight. There is no vehicular connection between houses. Only Pedestrians are allowed accessibility.

« Ando believes in shades of subtle gradation between public and private otherwise completely separated zonal entities in any architecture.

«To make this idea concrete, the concepts of the "roji", or alley space, which once functioned efficiently to connect public and private in a Japanese city, and the plaza, the heart of the Western town, were introduced here.

« as The larger buffer zone opened up in the center between upper and lower clusters of dwellings is treated a plaza, while the open passage linking individual dwellings, and the stairs traversing this passage, are treated as three-dimensional "roji".

« True quality of life is fostered not in the completeness enclosed in the individual dwelling but in the encounters with the events that occur daily in open spaces.

Dwelling Variations:

« While fitting into the grid system that controls the overall structure, the plans of individual dwellings are enabled by manipulating the combination of units and interventions of exterior space to encompass the breadth of daily life's variety.

« The image above shows the compositional diagrams of the sizes, plans, and varied dwelling units. Beyond the given program, phase Il attempts to augment the public spaces, such as an indoor public pool from which the sea is visible.

« The main road is nearby, and the whole complex is fortified, which made Rokko housing safer.

« The elevation or open terraces may be a reason for risk.

« The whole complex is under 24-hour surveillance, and Japan is one of the lowest crime rate zones. Why is the safety and security system for Rokko housing undoubtedly better than any other housing.

The location of Rokko Housing enables its dwellers to access various services.

Nearby Educational Institutions, Athletic clubs, And a park helped them to recreate.

Each house has a provision for underground parking, and two have car lifts.

There is WTP on each housing, thus reducing the waste and managing and recycling it.

Nearby three garages help car owners a lot.

The disabled moving escalator is also a prominent and helpful feature of this housing.

Every Block is self-dependent with several.

Socio-Economical Factor:

« As Rokko Housing was an ambitious project targeting high-income people, the society that built it shares its interest in economic aspects.

« These levels of interest enable us to meet the same professionals in one housing, which advances the whole community in one frame.

« As the size of housing increases, communal harmony fades that much. Like the Rokko Housing, it is mostly densely populated and cheered. The economic interests have a strong bond with socio-cultural elements as well.

Meet The AuthorS

Muhammad Golam Sami

B. Arch, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Khulna, Bangladesh Architect | Futurist | Sustainable Design Expert

Operational Head, ADORA Studios, Bangladesh

Founder, samism.org

Lecturer, Department of Architecture

Northern University of Business & Technology

Mahmuda Yasmin Dola

B. Arch, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Khulna, Bangladesh Architect | Analytical Practitioner

Head of Construction, ADORA Studios, Bangladesh

CMO & Head of Construction, SS Construction & Power Solution, Bangladesh

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