Project: Yamaguchi Apartment
Author: Josean Ruiz Esquíroz – Ruizesquiroz Arquitectos
Team: Marta Muñoz Martín & Josean Ruiz Esquíroz
Contractor: Kapana Obras y Reformas S.L.
CNC machines: Eduardo Zubiría. Empotrados del Norte
Location: Pamplona, Spain
Year of Construction: 2018-19
Budget: 110.920 €
Photography: Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)
Text by Ruizesquiroz Arquitectos
The city of Pamplona has been twinned with the Japanese city of Yamaguchi since 1980. The relationship was born with the patron saint of Navarra, San Francisco Javier, Jesuit missionary in Japan in 1550. In 1997, the Yamaguchi Park was completed, as an example of the Japanese landscape of 85,000 m2 between the neighborhoods of Iturrama, San Juan, and the hospital complex of Navarra.
This Yamaguchi Apartment is an interior housing renovation located on the first floor, with stunning views of the park. Its name defines the Japanese technique of the zen dry garden, that by means of bas-reliefs in the sand, creates spaces for the contemplation of undulations which evoke the aquatic movement.
Karesansui designs an undulating landscape on the roof of the dwelling’s common and diurnal space for its contemplation. This topography connects and differentiates several diurnal zones: the entrance hall, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room and the games room. The roof panels were formed by CNC machines and its material, which was extruded polystyrene serves as both thermal and acoustic insulation. Somehow, the roof is an entropic ornamentation.
