Curvilinear 'Shell House' Is Made With Rammed Earth

Introduction to the Shell House

The Shell House is a villa built in the forest of Shinshu, Japan as a primordial organism born from the soil. This unique building made of earth and wood is a true work of art that feels alive and blends in with the surrounding forest. This is the perfect solution for a vacation home where you can enjoy the wood and earthen walls over time. When the home is viewed from almost every angle, the forest and the earthen walls seem to coexist. This gives a peaceful sense of being surrounded by and part of nature. The Shell House is a cute shape that looks like an egg broken in half. There's also an aperture that looks like a bird's beak opening onto a waterway. These give the Shell House an attractive, eye-catching appearance.

Materials and Construction Techniques

The roof of the home is made of wooden shells and the eaves are made of Hanegi. The wooden shell structure is combined with earthen walls that add a softness to the hard linear wooden structure. The home was completed with the help of skilled local craftsmen, many of whom are based in the Nagano Prefecture. The tiny house is a passive building that captures sunlight and heat in winter to make use of the heat storage and humidity control properties of the earthen walls. It is constructed from local wood and earth, without the use of modern building materials (plywood, laminated wood, plasterboard), and meets modern energy-saving standards.

Tono Mirai's Architectural Philosophy

Vision. Tono Mirai's encounter with raw earth stems from a desire to recover the manual side of architectural design creation and he goes in search of building materials that could give him this possibility. He sees in raw earth the possibility of creating more welcoming spaces, capable of channeling life energies and curing the stress of contemporary life with round, gentle forms combined with warm and natural colors. Tono Mirai's work translates the energy of organic life into beautiful architectural forms. Perfectly embedded in nature's cycle of constant regeneration, his buildings bring well-being and strengthen the bonds between the environment and people.

Integration of Traditional and Modern Techniques

Tono Mirai combines the ancient technique of craftsmen from Sakan with contemporary sensitivity to design and sustainability. The exclusive use of carpentry and joinery, and raw earth as the load-bearing element, combined with the preliminary studies of the local climate and processing of local materials to make them suitable for construction, results in structures with a modern and sophisticated flair. His architectural designs unite the rhythms of organic life to that of still, images of a motion that has neither beginning nor end, making change their natural condition.

Community and Identity in Architecture

Organic architectural design values not only the building materials but also the people who will live in or use them. For Tono Mirai, building a house also means building a community. The construction process also involves local craftsmen and is accompanied by community-building activities that offer adults and children the opportunity to regain physical contact with the land or to establish it for the first time, in the belief that knowing it is the first step towards respecting it. Through the creation of shared experiences, the organic architectural design contributes to strengthening the identity of each country.