Bruno Taut “Atami Villa” – 2 –

I introduced about Bruno Taut last blog, I write about the “Atami Villa (Kyu Huga Villa)” this time.

The client was Mr. Rihei Hyuga who was active in trade business in Asia. FYI – the wooden two-storied main house was designed by Jin Watanabe who also designed Wako department in Ginza, the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno and Aichi prefectural office. I think the client Mr. Hyuga knew about art & culture very well and had a nice sense of beauty. Also I heard that Mr. Hyuga said “You can design whatever you want no matter how much it costs” to Taut. Such a dream project it was that the client trusted Taut, left all of it up to Taut and no money restriction. I think client’s understanding for design is necessary to create something great.

This Atami Villa is well know as a “A cellar of the annex” but I think “A guest room for social place” is more suitable for this space. Because there are three rooms and there is also a big window that you can see the Pacific Ocean, it is very luxurious “cellar”.

The entrance is stairs from the main house because it is a cellar, Taut world starts from the stairs. The bamboo trellis welcome us and there are spiral staircases beyond the trellis.

The first room is “Social Room”. It was for billiard or dance as the name suggests, and it is the biggest room. Thin bamboo is spread on the wall, looks like bamboo hedge. Spreading thin bamboos needed high technique, so that only three could be done in one day. And the lights of the ceiling are sight to see. A lot of bare light bulbs are hung in two rows, and all materials are made by bamboo. I have never seen these lights before. The table and chairs in the room were also designed by Taut. They are simple but not boring, and they have warmth of nature.

The next room is “Guest Room”. There is a big window, and the space is divided upper stage and lower stage. There are five stairs between the stages with enough depth to sit. And the walls are in red which is very impressive and deep. Taut was called as “a color architect”, he used very unique colors for his architectures. By the guide, he expressed his hometown Germany in red. (You can hear the explanation from the guide who has deep love for this villa)

This room is to enjoy the ocean from the big window. You can enjoy the view from different hight, the top stage, each five stairs and the lower stage.

It is great to enjoy the ocean during the day but the main time is at night, right it was designed to admire the moon. This idea was inspired by the moon-viewing stage of Katsura Imperial Villa, what a luxury space it is!.

(Borrowing the same words as the guide said to us)
Imagine, it is very quiet full moon tonight. The ocean spreads just under the window, and you feel like floating in the ocean. A beautiful moon is in the night sky, the moonlit red walls look fascinating, and the seashell dyed ceiling shines gracefully. You hear the sound of the waves.

Oh my… I am absolutely entranced by imaging it. Imaging the old days is also fun to enjoy old buildings not only themselves. We see the ocean in the distance now because there are a lot of trees out of the window but you could see the ocean closer before.
*I designed the main image of today’s blog by imaging the moonlight rooms

The third room is “Japanese Style Room”. Taut didn’t like something shallow and only imitating designed Japanese style. He studied about Japanese culture and architecture very hard, and he wanted this villa to design authentic. I think his design is very nice not shallow and surface design, it is not real Japanese one but more unique and mixed style in good way. I feel there is admiration of him.

Each rooms have each styles, there are theme colors in each and name as well.
・ The Social Room – Yellow – Beethoven
・ The Guest Room – Red – Mozart
・ The Japanese Style Room – Green – Bach

These are also beautiful. He named the guest room Mozart! I think Taut is more an artist than only architect. This cellar is really beautiful space where he expressed his beauty with his unique way.

The villa will be closed for four years from the later 2018 because of restoration. Please visit there if you like.

*The main image is from a flyer of Kyu Hyuga Villa
*The images are from Atami City Tourism Association Website