Portal for Japanese minimalist architecture

HOUSE IN MEGUROHONCHO is a renovation project of a 40-year-old reinforced concrete building that originally housed storage and office spaces from the basement to the 2nd floor and residential spaces on the 3rd floor. Our current design focused on the building’s exterior and living quarters on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The second phase of the project is set to convert the basement and 1st floor into commercial spaces.

First, all interior partitioning was done away with to free up space. Towering above the surrounding houses, the 3rd floor is well lit and accommodates the living space, while the 2nd floor offers a comparatively more private space. An aperture was made at the center of the 3rd floor and a large piece of furniture with built-in stairs was placed directly underneath it to create a line of flow inside the building. The slightly off-center furnishing loosely partitions the ensemble, thus creating spaces with different personalities around it.

Atop of this piece of furniture connecting the upper and lower floors, there is a wide landing that makes another small floor.

By making the long bay window on the 2nd floor serve as a big desk or remodeling the veranda on the 3rd floor into a space leading to the entrance, etc., we strived to make newly added elements coexist with the remnants from the existing building and give it an overall sense of unity.