Description of xevo EDDI by Edward Suzuki:
xevo EDDI is an extension of EDDI’s House, the first case of an industrialized house in Japan (and perhaps in the world) designed by an architect and built by a major housing manufacturer, Daiwa House Kougyo, in a collaborative effort.
Pre-designed and pre-fabricated and sold as a ready-made “product,” the buyers’ characteristics, lifestyles, site conditions, etc. are not known at the time of design. As such, the architect has opted to design under the assumption that the site on which the house would be placed is not surrounded by environment friendly conditions, as has been so proven more often than not through the architect’s experience over the years, and that the house should look not outward but inward.
As a result, the design concept for a typical type is “Outside Inside,” meaning that the typical house has an outside patio at the center of the house onto which each and every room looks out. Furthermore, a balcony is placed above and adjacent to the central patio overlooking it such that this combination of open spaces creates an “interface” between the outside proper and the inside that acts as a filter, a buffer, or a cushion between the two zones. In this way the design is such that the house does not need to depend on the contextual conditions in which it is to be situated.
No matter how unfavorable the surroundings may be, the house would function comfortably within the mini-cosmos of its own boundaries. The house with its central patio is designed to allow as much of not only direct natural sunlight but also cross ventilation as possible to provide for optimal energy efficiency. xevo EDDI now boasts 5 basic types of plans with 57 variations to accommodate as much of the varying site conditions and characteristics.
