The minimal interior of this house in Japan’s Hyogo prefecture functions a standard palette of white walls and wood surfaces aimed at supplying a calm and cozy surroundings for its elderly residents.
The interior of the 28-square-metre residence for a couple whose kids no longer reside at home was redesigned by Osaka-primarily based Tsubasa Iwahashi Architects, which has previous completed an office featuring hanging plants and a shed-like meeting room and a 3-storey home squeezed onto a 4-metre-broad plot in the architect’s property city.
Following decades of accommodating a household, the essential objective of the refurbishment was to facilitate a simpler way of daily life for the dad and mom.
“The clients desired a comfy space that is appropriate to reside alone,” Iwahashi informed Dezeen. “The principal intervention was to remove surplus.”
Existing partitions that gave the building’s interior a cramped feel had been eliminated and the layout altered to generate brighter and a lot more open spaces. Pillars that formed component of the original framework have been retained to offer a reminder of the house’s previous.
Associated story: Office interior by Tsubasa Iwahashi brings the outdoors in with hanging baskets and a shed
The house’s entrance prospects into a little hall offering entry to a bedroom and a staircase major to the upper storey.
An open-plan space accommodating living, dining and kitchen amenities occupies most of the ground floor. Sliding wooden partitions can be utilised to close off some of the spaces, like a bathroom area behind the kitchen.
A suspended ceiling incorporating lights and an extractor in the kitchen is punctured by an opening that reveals the unique rafters, which the architect suggested provides “a symbol of the memory of what has been supporting the home for a lengthy time.”
Fitted cabinetry supplies the bulk of storage during the property, although extra customized-created furniture in matching plywood ensures a minimum material palette that enhances the simplicity of the spaces.
A timber column and beam added in the bedroom reference a traditional Japanese tokonoma, an alcove-like room typically used to show valued artworks.
Brass utilized for details like door handles and the frame of the dining table complements the warm really feel of the birch, Douglas fir and oak used all through the interior.
Photography is by Yoshiro Masuda.
Floor program Dezeen
