Judo House is a modern two-story house located in Melbourne, Australia, designed in 2021 by Nervegna Reed Architecture.

Description
The Judo House was designed for a couple and their young family. Both clients are Judo experts, the wife being a former Olympic Judo competitor. Besides the usual requirements of a family house they wanted a space where they could practice Judo with the children. Therefore, the basement became a multiuse space with martial arts as its core activity. Circular floor windows on the ground floor allow light and views to the Judo practice below.
We used the concept of the screen, with its long architectural history as well as its modern manifestations in everyday life, as a generator of architectural space and surface for this inner-city site. Besides the difficulties associated with a large program for a small site, there were also multiple town planning restrictions to negotiate. As the site is a narrow 6m wide, triangular slices were cut into the ground (with traversable mesh over) to allow light into the basement. This allows for a Zen-like atmosphere for the underground Judo practice. On the ground and first floors a triangular light court is cut out of the side wall facing the street. It is secured by a perforated metal screen. The screen allows privacy during the daytime with dynamic views out to the street and increased spatiality. The perforated patterns frame the street view with a dot-screen filter, vaguely reminisce...