Second Street Compound

The first level of the compound consists of main house living spaces, garage, entry courtyard, central courtyard, and guesthouse yard. The main house's entry, kitchen, dining, and living room are arranged centrifugally off a structural column placed off-center within the space.

The column marks the meeting point of the four corners of the downstair spaces. Control joints in the integrally-colored concrete further accentuate this spatial layout.

As in traditional courtyard houses there is a direct connection between indoors and outdoors. In lieu of a portal, a glass wall controls the transition from indoors to outdoors. Thus the central courtyard is an extension of the living room while a tsubo niwa, a small courtyard within a courtyard, acts as an extension of the dining area.

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