Japanese architecture

Subterms

    Latest story

    150 Shares169 Views

    Akio Isshiki Architects marries old and new with Japanese home and restaurant

    by

    Japanese studio Akio Isshiki Architects has transformed an old wooden building into a warm-toned home and public restaurant named House in Hayashisaki Matsue Beach.

    Located on a coastal street in Akashi in southern Japan, the mixed-use space was built within a 50-year-old building for a local designer and features a curry restaurant as well as residential and working spaces.
    Designed to reflect traditional Japanese dwellings, the home and restaurant are contained within a wooden building that was previously dark and separated.
    House in Hayashisaki Matsue Beach was designed by Akio Isshiki ArchitectsDuring the renovation, Akio Isshiki Architects aimed to pair existing elements with modern features to reflect the mixed-use nature of the project.
    “The house was divided into small rooms, narrow and dark,” studio founder Akio Isshiki told Dezeen.

    “It was very old and damaged, but fortunately the carpenter had done a good job, there were no leaks, and the structure was solid.”
    It is located in AkashiAccessed from the roadside, a series of circular stones form a path that leads through the planted front garden and curves to extend along the front of the building, providing access to the ground-floor restaurant.
    Here, a stepped sheltered porch features external seating and is separated from the interior space by a wide sliding glass door set in a timber frame, which offers views into the garden and can be fully opened to connect the dining space to the outside.
    The structure contains a restaurant and a homeInside, the floor has been coated with dark tiles informed by the history of the area, which was formerly a large tile producer.
    “These tiles were handcrafted one by one by tile craftsmen in Awaji, with the image of lava stone pavements seen in cities in Central and South America superimposed on the texture and edge shape,” said the studio.
    It draws on traditional Japanese homesWooden furnishings, including bespoke D-shaped chairs designed by the studio and created by a local woodworker, are arranged throughout the dining space at the front of the building.
    “To ensure stability even on uneven floors, three legs are used as a base for the chairs, and the legs are made of a thick material so that they do not fit in the joints of the Kawara tiles,” said Isshiki.
    “I aimed for a primitive design with an unknown nationality, with as simple and crude a composition as possible.”

    Apollo Architects & Associates create home from stacked volumes in Tokyo

    Separated from the main space by an earth-toned counter, the kitchen is tucked into one side of the dining room and features walls clad in wooden panels and white tiles, along with a lighting fixture formed from two circles that hangs in the street-facing window.
    A Japanese shoji screen at the end of the dining room is the first of a series of flexible partitions throughout the home that can be pulled out to provide separation between the spaces.
    The upper floor contains private residential space”Conscious of the tropics and nostalgia, we put nets that look like mosquito nets and sudare blinds on the shoji screens,” said the studio. “The graceful plans created by imperfect partitions such as shoji and fusuma are typical of ancient Japanese architecture.”
    “In this house, where cultures, nationalities, times, and various other things are combined, I thought it would be appropriate to have the spaces partially mixed so that they could feel the presence of each other, rather than being permanently partitioned in terms of usage,” it continued.
    Wood was used throughout the interiorBuilt on a raised timber platform, the rest of the ground floor holds private rooms for the client, which are divided by shoji screens, including a traditional Japanese room that opens onto a garden.
    A home office borders the dining space, where a central black ladder leads to the floor above, while a bedroom, bathroom and utility room branch from the other side of the corridor.
    The residential space has views of the seaUpstairs, the studio added an open arrangement of dining and living spaces with warm-toned surfaces including a red wall and dark wooden beams that interact with the home’s original rustic roof structure.
    “The wall on the second floor is a scraped wall mixed with red iron oxide and finished by a plasterer from Awaji,” said Isshiki. “This is an attempt to incorporate the colourful walls of each country into architecture in a Japanese context.”
    The home has an open-plan living arrangementOther Japanese homes recently featured on Dezeen include a Tokyo home spread across two stacked volumes and a concrete home supported by a single column on Japan’s Okinawa Island.
    The photography is by Yosuke Ohtake.

    Read more: More

    More stories

    • 88 Shares199 Views

      in Rooms

      Century-old Japanese dwelling transformed into minimalist guesthouse

      by

      Japanese architect Uoya Shigenori stripped back and reconfigured this 100-year-old townhouse in Kyoto to create moody and tranquil interiors for Maana Kamo guesthouse.Located in the historic Higashiyama District, the hotel was designed by Shigenori for Maana Homes, the owner of a collection of luxury retreats hidden within some of the Japanese city’s old streets.

      The main living room inside Maana Kamo guesthouse
      The goal of the renovation was to preserve and expose the dwelling’s original structure while creating a minimalist retreat for quiet contemplation.
      It has been shortlisted for the hotel and short stay interior of the year at the Dezeen Awards 2020.

      Its guestroom can be adapted into a yoga space

      “Preserving and highlighting the house’s imperfectly aged beauty is the backbone of our design philosophy,” said Maana Homes.
      “The beauty and soul of a traditional Japanese townhome is in its structural elements.”

      The kitchen has a central island covered with layers of Urushi
      Prior to the renovation, Maana Kamo was in a poor condition with unsightly vinyl wall coverings, tile ceilings and broken floorboards.
      These finishes were all removed, exposing the old house’s rough, wooden structure and original walls that are made from clay.

      A double vanity features in the new moody bathroom
      These original details have been teamed with dark, moody furnishings and subdued lighting, alongside new timber walls and floors lined with traditional straw tatami mats.
      Ornament is kept to a minimum throughout, while storage spaces for the hotel staff are disguised within the walls.

      Events space opens inside revamped century-old machiya house in Kyoto

      The lack of ornament is to ensure Maana Kamo guesthouse is “visually quiet” and free from distraction, providing occupants with space to slow down and reflect.
      It also allows rooms to be easily adapted, for example, a guest room on the second floor can be quickly converted into a space for yoga and meditation.

      The decoration is limited to a few handcrafted ornaments
      One of the biggest changes Shigenori made to the dwelling was the repositioning of the kitchen from a narrow space at the rear of the dwelling to a larger area at the front.
      This made space for a large kitchen island that is covered with layers of Urushi – a traditional Japanese lacquer made of tree sap that is water-resistant –and a wall of wooden cabinetry and shelves filled with local, handcrafted kitchenware.

      The building’s original structure clay walls are exposed throughout
      Where the old kitchen once stood, Shigenori has inserted a double-vanity bathroom with a shower that overlooks a private garden at the rear of the dwelling.
      The guesthouse is complete with an oversized Japanese-style bathtub that is accessed from the living room. It has a view out to the private garden and is intended to evoke the feeling of bathing in an onsen – a Japanese bathing facility positioned around a hot spring.

      Its old and dark wooden structure has also been revealed throughout
      In 2016, Shigenori collaborated with Masashi Koyama on the restoration of a century-old machiya house in Kyoto to create an events space. Similarly to Maana Kamo, the goal of the design was to celebrate the architecture and history of the space.
      Other projects up for short stay interior of the year at the Dezeen Awards 2020 include the small Escondido Oaxaca Hotel in Mexico by Decada and Carlos Couturier and OHLAB’s extension of a rural hotel in Mallorca.
      Photos are courtesy of Maana Homes.

      Read more: More

    • 163 Shares99 Views

      Tree rises up through centre of House in Yoga by Keiji Ashizawa Design

      by

      A greenery-filled courtyard lies at the heart of this home that Keiji Ashizawa Design has created for a family of five in Tokyo’s Yoga neighbourhood. Located just outside of the bustling, shop-lined streets of Tokyo’s Shibuya ward, House in Yoga is designed to let its inhabitants experience the outdoors in an urban context. The house, […] More

    • 150 Shares99 Views

      in Rooms

      Steel and concrete steps cut through facade of Stairway House by Nendo

      by

      A huge faux staircase interrupts the floor plan of this house in Tokyo, which design studio Nendo has created for three generations of the same family. Stairway House is situated in a quiet residential pocket of Shinjuku, a ward of Tokyo known for its neon-lit buildings, bustling streets and vibrant nightlife scene. The three-storey home […] More