Kubota Architect Atelier's YA House Liberates the Mind in Japan

“Space for freedom and liberating minds: all architecture exists for that.” Such is Kubota Architect Atelier‘s latest construction. Dubbed the YA House, the firm’s 239-square-meter creation sits near the peak of a mountain in stark contrast to the surrounding residences of the Hyōgo Prefecture. Infinitely more contemporary than the surrounding dwellings, YA House rests on a site cut through the mountain itself and employs a linear combination of two vertical walls and four horizontal slabs — thus allowing the nearby greenery and bright light of the endless blue skies to permeate the space. Each distinct area of the home offers a different relation to nature while the juxtaposition of the bare concrete and white walls (on the exterior and interior, respectively) means “materiality and massiveness is lost and only the meaning as surface remains.”