At a glance, the Revolving House of T looks like a relatively typical, if rather dilapidated, old house – but this is misleading. Located in Japan's Kantō region, it was created by artist Mochida Atsuko and features a revolving interior that rotates a full 360 degrees.
Atsuko hired a team of builders to help him modify the dwelling, which is his grandmother's old house and has sat unoccupied since 2006. They cut out a 5 m (16.4 ft)-diameter circular section of the floor and added a rotating platform. The team then re-built the area to look exactly as it was, while allowing it to revolve.
As the platform moves, the layout is gradually rearranged, opening up sections to the outside and shifting interior walls around. The movement must be performed manually by visitors to the house, though we've no word on exactly how it's turned (a hand crank seems a reasonable guess).
It's tempting to imagine a practical reason for the revolving platform, such as a house that opens up to the elements, or one that can be internally rearranged for different uses, but that's not the point with this project. The Revolving House of T is very much an architectural art piece.
"To realize the intervention idea, I started researching with my grandmother, who spent a lot of time there and is owner of the house now," says Atsuko. "Through this research, I got an idea of the revolving house as a statement for my grandmother and the system surrounding her. The purpose of the project is neither to entertain nor enlighten her, but to question the public.
The house imprisoned her to the domestic role, that she won't move away from. She is stuck to the land. I made an intervention to cut the house with a complex connection and open it. With this movement, the old house can get ventilation, new form and function."
The Revolving House of T was completed in 2017 and has been opened to visitors since earlier this year. Check out the video below by Kousuke Shige/ogopogo film to see it in motion.
Source: Mochida Atsuko
