The Montblanc House by Studio Velocity

So I began to consider how to create an open space in such a tightly enclosed site. However, the neighboring houses and apartments stand close to the site with their windows opening on to it. Along the path, where the wind’s breezes encircle the trees’ leaves above, where one can hear the murmur of the wind in the trees, the sounds of the birds singing, and the footsteps of creatures in the hush, there is, I think, an interior-like sense of place, a state that is wholly distinct from urban spaces or open skies. The plan of a house with a small beauty shop on the first floor. When you’re walking in a forest in the mountains, you feel as though you’re being gently embraced though you’re not actually inside anything. 5 large openings in the inclined roof bring sufficient natural light and air, as well as scenery, into the building. The windows, as “voids,” lacking sashes, have a totally different scale from the windows of the neighboring houses. The site, surrounded by neighboring houses in 3 directions, is in a quiet residential area. Or else, from amongst a thicket, finding a view of the city at the foot of the mountain, or the blue sky streaming through the leaves and so one encounters many such “exteriors” along the way. Can we create a place for such experiences in a crowded residential area? One encounters “outside” at various points as you walk upstairs since the semi-exterior spaces are connected and gently covered with a large luminous roof.