Architecture and construction are mostly thought of as an additive mapping process. We superimpose building materials in order to build spaces. But the resulting space is a negative one, because we can experience space from the inside. However, the history of architecture gives us several examples of the process of creating negative spaces: we carve them out of something.
The construction scheme of Junya Ishigami’s restaurant-home in Ube is negative-positive-negative. This meant that holes or passages were first dug in the construction site from above and then filled with concrete. After the concrete had set, the soil was excavated from the inside to create the interior spaces. The rooms are furnished in cave-like spaces housing the owner’s apartment in one half of the building and a small restaurant next to it.