NATURE WITHIN
Not a Hotel - Design Competition
Kitakaruizawa, Japan
First Prize
2024-2027
Under Construction..
Nestled in the pristine landscape of Kitakaruizawa, Japan, the design harmonizes architecture with nature. Suspended between natural rock formations, the house features an elliptical roof that blends into the terrain. Glass facades frame forest views, while materials like warm wood and earthy textures echo the site’s essence.
A DIALOGUE WITH THE EARTH
Our 1st-prize-winning proposal, Nature Within, begins as a conversation rather than an imposition.
A dialogue between land and architecture, between what is found and what is formed.
The site in Kitakaruizawa is not treated as a blank canvas, but as an existing condition rich with memory, geology, and presence. Rocks, trees, slopes, and voids are not obstacles to overcome, but forces to listen to. The project emerges from this listening — shaped by the ground rather than placed upon it.
Here, architecture does not seek dominance.
It seeks resonance.
Nature Within proposes a way of living that is deeply anchored to the earth — where the house becomes an extension of the terrain, and inhabitation becomes an act of awareness. The landscape is not framed from a distance; it is entered, touched, and felt. This is not architecture in front of nature, but architecture within it.
ARCHITECTURE AS AN EXCAVATED FORM
The architectural form is conceived as if it were discovered rather than designed.
An excavated presence — carved, hollowed, and revealed.
The house follows an imperfect elliptical geometry, responding to the natural distribution of rocks and trees on site. Its form bends, opens, and contracts, negotiating with the terrain rather than correcting it. Structure and landscape intertwine, with natural rock formations becoming part of the architectural logic — sometimes structural, sometimes spatial, always present.
The building is neither object nor landmark.
It is a quiet mass embedded in the ground.
Transparency is used with intention. Large glazed openings dissolve the boundary between inside and outside, allowing forest, stone, and light to enter the living spaces. Architecture becomes a vessel for nature — not a barrier against it.
LIGHT, VOID, AND THE CHOREOGRAPHY OF MOVEMENT
Movement through the house is guided by light, shadow, and compression.
Spaces unfold gradually, never all at once.
Voids, courtyards, and framed openings create moments of pause and anticipation. Light penetrates the interior not as a uniform condition, but as a sequence — filtered through trees, reflected off stone, softened by wood. The architecture reveals itself slowly, encouraging stillness and observation.
Circulation is not purely functional; it is experiential.
Paths bend, ceilings lower and rise, views appear and disappear.
The house is designed to be read in time — through walking, turning, stopping. Architecture becomes a narrative, written in light and shadow.
ECHOES OF NATURE WITHIN
The interior is not a separate world.
It is an echo of the landscape outside.
Materials are reduced, tactile, and elemental. Dark, warm wood wraps walls and ceilings, creating a cave-like atmosphere that contrasts gently with the openness of the glazing. Stone surfaces retain their raw texture, allowing imperfections to remain visible and honest. Metal elements appear with restraint, grounding the spaces with a subtle industrial precision.
The interior is calm, introspective, and protective — a place of retreat rather than display.
Furniture and built-in elements are integrated into the architecture, reinforcing a sense of continuity and permanence. Every surface is designed to be touched, every space to be inhabited slowly. Nature is not represented decoratively; it is present materially, atmospherically, and spatially.
Origins of Nature Within
Nature Within is not defined by a single image or moment.
It is an experience that unfolds across scales — from landscape to architecture, from structure to interior, from concept to inhabitation.
The accompanying film brings these layers together, revealing the project as a living system rather than a static object. Through movement, sound, and light, the video captures the essence of the house — its silence, its weight, its relationship with time and nature.
This is architecture not as spectacle, but as presence.
A place to slow down.
A place to belong.
Competition Design: Hassan M. Elgendy & Nahed Zmeter
Design Development: Hassan M. Elgendy, Nahed Zmeter, Nader Moro, Mohammed Hani El-Gammal, Abdelrahman El Boushy, Nada Hassan
Client: NOT A HOTEL
Lighting: nosight
Landscape: Yard Works
Construction: Niitsugumi
CG Perspective: Mir, NRML STUDIO, UNFORMED DESIGN, NOT A HOTEL
