Press Release

February 10, 2016
LIXIL JS Foundation“The 5th LIXIL International Student Architectural Competition”
Top Prize-Winning Oslo School of Architecture and Design's INVERTED HOUSE Is Completed~New next-generation sustainable housing is created on the site of Memu Meadows in
Taiki-cho, Hokkaido ~The LIXIL JS Foundation (located in Koto-ku, Tokyo; president: YoichiroUshioda), which facilitates surveys and research related to the housing andbuilding materials industries as well as supporting the development of humanresources, is pleased to announce today that the next-generation sustainablehousing “INVERTED HOUSE” designed by the Oslo School of Architecture andDesign has been completed on a site of Memu Meadows in Taiki-cho Hokkaido,
environmental technology research facilities managed by the foundation.
INVERTED HOUSE is the top prize winner in the 5th LIXIL International Student
Architectural Competition sponsored by the LIXIL JS Foundation, aimed to seek andreview next-generation sustainable housing technology and communicating thattechnology to global society. The project was designed based on the theme: “House for
Enjoying the Harsh Cold.”“INVERTED HOUSE” designed by the Oslo School of Architecture and Design

INVERTED HOUSE has floors of different heights and roofs of different slopes, which help
control its environment, thereby allowing residents to embrace the cold and the beauty ofseasonal changes. The two intersecting walls, which are the main structure, divide thehouse in four main rooms with specific architecture, where all life activities, including
cooking, dining, taking a bath or sleeping, are performed outdoors and the rooms inside
are made to allow them to seek shelter from the unexpected bad weather.
The four spaces are made up of the “Garden Room,” which will gather snow in winter,the “Outside Living Room,” the main space of the house, the “Room for Cooking”
protected from the strong winds with a very steep roof and the “Inside Room,” the mostprotected room against the external environment. The character of inside-outside
spaces inverts with seasons. The warmest space in winter, the Inside Room, becomesthe coolest shadowed space in summer. The outside spaces, harsh in winter, become
the most pleasant ones in summer.
With the completion of INVERTED HOUSE, Memu Meadows is currently a home tofive houses designed by students. The effects of these “next-generation sustainablehousing” will continue to be verified.
Contact Information
Kenji Iida, LIXIL JS Foundation
2-1-1, Oshima, Koto-ku, Tokyo 136-8535
Tel: 03-5626-1008
LIXIL JS Foundation website: http://www.lixiljsfound.com/

Fax: 03-5626-1033

＜Reference Information＞■INVERTED HOUSE Design Team: The Oslo School of Architecture and Design(Norway)
Supervisors:
Neven Fuchs, Associate Professor/Thomas McQuillan, Professor
Raphael Zuber, Guest Professor
Students: Laura Cristea
Mari Nysveen Hellum
Stefan Hurrell
Niklas LenanderArchitect: Kengo Kuma and Associates Structural Engineer: Oak Structural DesignOffice
General Constructor: Takahashi Construction Company
Building Area: 94.68m2
Construction Cost: Approx. 30 million yenConstruction Period: September 2015 - January 2016【Concept】
INVERTED HOUSE was built based on the seemingly contradicting theme: “House for
Enjoying the Harsh Cold.” The house, which opens its four walls to the externalenvironment, is proposed as a house that embraces the cold and the beauty of seasonalchanges. All life activities, including cooking, dining, taking a bath or sleeping, areperformed outdoors while the inside rooms are made to allow residents to take shelter fromthe unexpected bad weather.
【Features】
・Four Spaces that Change in Character According to the Season
First, people approach the architecture from the first room called
the “Garden Room” defined by the cross-wall. The garden will
gather snow in winter, keeping it until early spring in the shadowof the high walls. Passing through the entrance door, you find themain space of the house; the “Outside Living Room.” A series of
elevated wooden floors takes you closer to the fireplace while a large
roof extends toward the enriched surroundings and the sunset. The“Room for Cooking,” the next outside room, is protected from thestrong winds with a very steep roof. A narrow passage around thecross wall takes you to the most protected room against the external
environment, the “Inside Room.” The space is narrow and dark, heated by an open
fireplace.
The character of inside-outside spaces inverts with seasons. The warmest space inwinter becomes the coolest shadowed space in summer. Conversely, the outside
spaces, harsh in winter, become the most pleasant ones in summer.
・An Experience of Enjoying the External Environment Created by the Cross Walls
and Long Roof
The long roof over the Inside Room opposes strong winds from west and northwest,
gathering snow on the other side of the wall in the Garden Room. The cross-walls arefacing south and west to create shadow for keeping the snow longer. The bedroom isfacing east to enjoy sunrise, and be protected from cold western winds. The Outside
Room is facing west to capture the low sunset sun.
Inverted House is designed as a horizontal architecture, spreading out in its terrain.
To strengthen this concept, the design team decided to make an artificial earth
platform, with clear cut and geometry. Its slight rotation towards the fence makes
the house relate to surroundings far beyond the property limit.

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■Overview of the 5th LIXIL International Student Architectural Competition
1． Participating universities: 12 universities in 11 countries* The three universities marked with ◎ proceeded to the Open Final Screening heldon April 21.
◎Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris La Villette (France)
Politecnico of Milan (Italy)◎The Oslo School of Architecture and Design (Norway)
Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid (Spain)
Istanbul Technical University (Turkey)
Yale University (USA)
Universidade de Sao Paulo (Brazil)
The University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
Seoul National University (South Korea)◎Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan)
Tokyo University of Agriculture (Japan)
2． Judging method
Twelve universities in eleven countries were invited to submit proposals for anext-generation, sustainable house designed for a cold region. Three entrants werethen selected in the first screening (based on documents submitted). The top prize
winner was subsequently chosen in the Open Final Screening.
3．Jury:Kengo Kuma (Architect / Professor, the University of Tokyo)
Tomonari Yashiro (Professor, Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo /Vice President, the University of Tokyo)
Dana Buntrock (Architect, Department of Architecture, University of California,Berkeley)
4． Prizes
Top prize (one work): $15,000 (USD; including design fee)Award of Excellence (two works): $3,000*Top-prize work will be constructed on a site in Memu Meadows (Taiki-cho, Hokkaido).
■ Overview of Facility
Name: Memu Meadows
Location: 158-1 Memu, Taiko-cho, Hiro-gun, Obihiro, HokkaidoOwner: LIXIL JS Foundation 2-1-1 Ojima, Koto-ku, Tokyo, 136-8535
Site area: App. 184,000 square meters
Main facilities: Experimental house “Même”, “Mock-up of Multiple floor Bamboo House”, “Arecipe to live”, “BARN HOUSE”, “HORIZON HOUSE”, “NEST WE GROW”, MultipurposeFacility, Conference Pavilion, Residence 1L and 1R (accommodation for researchers), twolog houses (accommodation for researchers), fitness center, restaurant, Administration
Wing, etc.
Official website: http://www.lixiljsfound.com/3