The House Awaiting Death

“House Awaiting Death”.
(credit: e-architect.co.uk)

“A house awaiting death,” the client said to us, “I will die in 15 years [and] it will be a house awaiting that death. When I die it won’t be sunset, it will be sunrise. When the final moment comes, I will face the sea and depart on a ship. It’ll be a time revealed after death. The building is fine as long as it lasts [those] 15 years. Something small would be good.”

“‘A house awaiting death,'” the client said to us, ‘I will die in 15 years [and] it will be a house awaiting that death.'”

Such was the request made by a client of EASTERN Design Office architects in Japan. Little is disclosed about the said client’s life — whether he was elderly, had a terminal illness, etc. In any case, that’s not what he would have wanted others to focus on. His attention was invested elsewhere, in a very positive and rare understanding of death and dying: that we rarely reach death in a single moment. Death arrives after dying, which is an engaging human experience that should be treated with the same fervor as any other.

For some, that means building a sleek Japanese home that is tailor-made for their dying process.

Credit: franklinandrade

The client “[had] found the place [for the house]… a patch of land on a peninsula facing east” that would be perfect for the “raised” home he envisioned. He wanted the house to have “a view of the sea in the east where the sun rises,” and in which he could feel like he was amongst the waves.

Anna Nakamura and Taiyo Jinno, creators of EASTERN Design Office.
(credit: dudye.com)

It’s a poetic vision. But it’s also demandingly specific. Thus, it was integral to have a company like EASTERN to collaborate with. Started by Anna Nakamura and Taiyo Jinno in 2003, the Kyoto-based architecture group has always had an edge, creating “what no one else has seen” in their homes and commercial designs.

“It’s a poetic vision. But it’s also demandingly specific. “

The result is a simple design filled with light and form. The windows are made to “penetrate your eyes, chest and shoulders when you are [looking at them]” by taking a V-shape evoking waves, “opening up to the [actual] waves.” There are other ‘slits’ in the house’s walls to inspire the movement of the sea, through which he can “watch and listen to the waves while lying on a wooden lounge or while standing and cooking.”

Credit: e-architect.co.uk

“This is the land [the client] chose to live out his final years,” says Nakamura, “He wants to anchor his life before he sails away from the sea’s coast, flashing towards an unknown shore. [But] how do we interpret his message? We are not only designing a house, but are creating the port from which his liberated mind will depart across the ocean.”

You may enjoy:

• Reading more about the EASTERN Design Office house here.
• The Reversible Destiny Foundation: Architecture as an Extension of Life After Death
• Friedhof for All: Austria’s Modern Islamic Cemetery