FOREST REFUGE.

Design of a weekend house in a Japanese forest expresses retreat from urban pressures and unity with nature.

The house stands in forest on the northern foothills of Mount Fuji, on terrain which is an ancient lava bed, undulating from east to west and flowing gently downhill from south-west to north-east. Appearing as a dark outcrop among silvery birch, beech and magnolia, the building settles into a shallow depression on the site, bounded on two sides by roads.

The client wanted a weekend retreat, with space for guests, which would respond to the beauty of the setting. Built along the main south-west/north-east axis, the house turns away from a neighbouring loghouse on the west. On all other sides it gives onto dappled forest. On plan, the building, including a backyard, is roughly a rectangle. But within the regular outline, it is divided obliquely into two irregularly shaped parts of unequal size that descending in height towards the centre are dovetailed together.

Division is between public and private. The larger section of the house is a double-height living room, skylit and giving onto a terrace. Stairs lead to a gallery running along the front of the building, underneath part of which is a dining room and kitchen.

The back wall of the living room sheers off towards the opposite wall of the house so that space is suddenly compressed into a narrow corridor that leads to the entrance and double-height hall. This is not a large house, but such devices -- the swelling and compression of volume working with light and asymmetrical geometry--create the illusion of greater space, the impression of movement. In this way, each part of the whole is given an independent character.

The second private part of the house, revolves around the triangular hall. Here there are two bedrooms, one stacked above the other. At the back, the building steps down to provide bath and shower rooms, and a covered balcony for the lower bedroom.

This austere and pleasing house is a wood-framed structure, clad externally with Japanese cedar which has been stained black. Internally, materials are also natural, with oak for floors and granite for bathroom (and terrace). The blackness of the exterior presumably refers to the lava on which the house is built and to ideas of retreat; and when the shutters are closed, the building becomes a shadowy presence in the forest.