The Difference Between House and Home: On the Day of Handover, the Protagonist Changes

The other day, I received the following
comment from a follower.

“I resonate with the perspective of fostering the ability for residents to make their own decisions, rather than just teaching them knowledge.
However,
is what we should truly protect in home building
the ‘house’ itself?
Or is it the lives of the people who will live in that house for a long time?”

I think that is a very good question.

Actually, I receive similar questions from time to time.

And every time, I ponder it for a moment.

Because,
it is not easy to simply rank one over the other in this question.

In this world,
there is a saying:
‘Building a house is building a life.’

That may certainly be true.

However, I think about it from a slightly different angle.

What architects and builders create is a “house”.

In other words, a building (house).

It is a vessel to shelter from rain and wind,
protect the family from earthquakes,
and live safely.

On the other hand, there is something that
the family nurtures within that building.

That is a “home”.

In other words, a family.

Though they may seem similar,
these two are not the same.

I am an architect.

I listen to the client's wishes,
survey the site,
check the regulations,
draw the blueprints,
and supervise the construction to ensure it proceeds properly.

As construction professionals, the builders
take responsibility for completing the building.

We work with a sense of agency.

However, what we are in charge of is
strictly a "house/building/structure."

It is not a "home/family."

To put it a bit extremely,
an architect cannot design a family.

A builder cannot construct a marital relationship.

There is no construction method to increase conversations between parents and children.

There are no building materials that can guarantee a family's happiness.

This is because those are issues that exist outside of the building.

Of course,
we can make proposals
regarding ease of living.

We can also think of floor plans
where the family can easily gather.

We can also propose flow lines
that allow for natural face-to-face interaction.

However,
even so,
we cannot create the "home" itself.

If we step too far into that,
I feel it would become
the arrogance of the designer.

And then comes the day of handover.

Many people think of the handover as the "end of construction."

But I have a slightly different perspective.

The handover is
a "passing of the baton of the protagonist."

Until then, the designer and the builder are the protagonists.

We do our best to complete the building.

And from the day of the handover onward,
the protagonist shifts to the client.

Because it is the people who live there who will nurture that building into a home.

Therefore,
if asked, 'Which is more important, protecting the house or protecting one's life?'
I would answer like this.

If asked,
I would answer like this.

Both are equally important.

They are not things to be compared.

To nurture a good home,
you need a building where you can live with peace of mind.

A good building, too,
only has meaning when there are people living in it.

A building is a vessel.

A home is the life nurtured within it.

Neither can exist without the other.

That is why, as an architect,
I take building construction seriously.

And I hope:
that the house I hand over
will eventually become
a precious 'home' for the client.

The protagonist changes on the day of handover.

However,
the true life begins from that day on.

What do you think?

On the obi strip of my book, I have written the following excerpt from the main text.

！！！！

The foolish old man in another note says the following.

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