Yoshio Ohno’s black timber house straddles a concrete escarpment in Hiroshima

Photography is by Kenji Masunaga. Yoshio Ohno Architects designed the   93-square-metre structure, named House in Miyake, for a site in Hiroshima, Japan. Related story: Blackened timber house by Harunatsu-Arch is divided by a stepped floor
«Our thought was to use it as one site again. This blackened-timber house by Japanese studio   Yoshio Ohno Architects is sat on top of a sloping concrete retaining wall (+ slideshow). Site plan – click for larger imageFirst floor plan – click for larger imageSection – click for larger image Two entrances provide access from both tiers of the stepped site. The wooden shell is elevated above a   cluster of tree stumps that form an outdoor seating area on a slab of concrete. The black metal steps climb into a volume lined with sections of pale timber. The steps continue onto the third level where an open-plan kitchen and living room, with pale wooden floorboards and counters, has large sections of black-framed glazing that look over the surrounding area. A glazed door at the top of the first flight of stairs leads to a bedroom and bathroom with grey polished concrete floors, and white walls and fittings. The balcony is decked in the same pale timber floorboards as the living space, helping to create a sense of continuity between inside and outside. On the upper ground level, a   door concealed in the black timber facade opens into the first floor of the property. The three-storey wooden building is supported by two black columns on the lower ground level of the site, with one storey screened by the escarpment, and two levels visible above the wall.