Creating a home in the valley

This project involved the renovation of an old house that stands on a gentle mountainside in Yugawara, a famous hot spring resort.

The existing 40-year-old building shows glimpses of careful carpentry in many places, and we designed a home in this location, with an abundant tree-filled garden, for a family to live in two locations: in Tokyo and abroad.

As the renovation involved preserving more than half of the existing structure, including the exterior, the most important consideration in the design was to balance the old and new.

While the plan proposed bold activities, such as an island kitchen that is over 2m on each side, we took care to ensure that the color scheme of each material would blend in with the existing building and the surrounding nature.

We also took the time to survey the existing structure and prepare a detailed plan in advance to improve earthquake resistance and insulation, which are often lacking in old buildings.