A House of Rest <The Architect at Twenty>

At the age of twenty I designed, for the first time, the house I wanted to live in. Now, after many years, one thing that has never changed in my thinking about architecture is that good architecture must be able to commune and empathise with us. Just as human and environment commune with each other, house, environment, and human are not separate but must become one. In the home we return to at the end of the day's work, there is rest that welcomes us, and there is space. Within a weary daily life, the house gives us the chance to breathe, and through that breath we find rest. A home's members are family. In the end, only by making a home where family can enjoy rest can a family sustain a healthy life. The first-floor café where family and guests can lightly share tea, and the small gallery where one can view the client's works, are precious spaces where the family's life can be shared with someone else. Through the rooftop space, too, one can tend a garden even in the city and spend precious leisure time for the family alone. Workplace and living space: happiness always overflows for those who know how to enjoy their work. Their homes always carefully consider the spatial separation that draws a line (for guests) between work and family. Physical separation of space always accompanies psychological separation — just as we can see that the homes of writers throughout the ages were at once workspaces and retreats that enriched their lives. BYHAND always contemplates and offers spaces that balance work and life by weaving functional design and the cozy space of a home into one.