Get the best of Domus straight to your inbox!

House in Kamisawa

The simple gesture of inserting a curved plywood structure creates a new space, while maintaining the history of this traditional Japanese house in Hyogo, refurbished by Tato Architects.

This building is a reconfiguration of a traditional Japanese wooden house. Its wooden frames were exposed after the removal of unnecessary parts and the spacial function were created by inserting curved walls into it.

The existing house contained many rooms in pure Japanese design, which seemed to be not suitable for a young couple who started a new life there. Unnecessary parts were removed, and the curved walls were positioned on the new mortar floor, in which underfloor heating was embedded. Guest room, bathroom, and bedroom are surrounded by the curved wall. The rest of the space is devoted to the kitchen, storage, dining and living spaces. A part of the space above the curved wall is used as a loft.

Constructing the walls with 20mm curved plywood was the solution to the limited budget. However, once the construction started, the much less accuracy of those panels didn’t help to realize the desired space. It forced the architects to change the construction method to frames of 25mm squared rods sandwiched with curved plywood panels.

Door and window fittings in the existing house were reused. The interior space of the bathroom was finished with fiber reinforced polycarbonate, on which a double layered polycarbonate ceiling was positioned.

The exterior wall was newly cladded with burnt cedar boards, and some windows were replaced by wooden fittings.