Schemata Architecture Office of Tokyo have completed the renovation of an apartment block in the suburb of Sayama.
The architects, headed by Jo Nagasaka, partially stripped the flats back to their concrete shell, altering selected elements such as windows, doorways and partitions while leaving some parts such as the kitchen units untouched.
“Sayama Flat is a renovation project of a 29-year-old apartment building, and it was completed January, 2008,” explains Nagasaka. “Sayama, the suburb 1 hour from the central of Tokyo by train, is an old residential area. There are a lot of small housings around our site.
“In general, Japanese renovation projects are started from removing every old interior and then redesigned it. However, in this project we started to choose what is necessary and what is not from an existing interior space. Because of remaining some of the elements of the interior, we achieved to design a neutral space that motivates young people to create their own life-style.”
Photos are by Takumi Oota. Update 13/02/08: see our new story on 63.02° House by Schemata Architecture Office.
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Posted by Rose Etherington
incredibly beautiful, i’d live there in a heartbeat although i do like my “stuff” around me.
[incidentally the link to the office doesn’t work because the coding is slightly wrong - one too many http’s. feel free to edit the comment once it’s fixed]
February 12th, 2008 at 10:12 pmExcellent!
February 12th, 2008 at 10:21 pmmmmm mm
February 12th, 2008 at 11:15 pml like it.. there’s more quality space rather than filled with over dose designer’s furniture…
February 13th, 2008 at 1:56 amLove the floors, love the walls. Some parts of it I don’t really like, but I think overall I’m digging this project. the juxtaposition between finished and unfinished is great in picture #8.
February 13th, 2008 at 2:28 amvery nice! that polished floor surface is quite stunning.
February 13th, 2008 at 6:26 amIs this really finished?
February 13th, 2008 at 9:57 amIn exposing the buildings nakedness, its core structure, it’s wiring and pipe work Schemata have successfully managed to reveal our fixation on surface materialism.
February 13th, 2008 at 10:09 amCool work !!!
February 13th, 2008 at 10:56 amP.S. - Sayama Flat is not just one apartment project but is the all flat bulding renovation project…that you can see in their site (I stayed a little bit confused to see so many diferent type of kitchens in just one flat !!!)
some really nice moves earlier on - begins to get a bit sticky when it indulges in more flouncy excesses and ironic tomfoolery
February 13th, 2008 at 12:05 pmWow! I want to live there.
February 13th, 2008 at 12:38 pmthats nasty……it doesnt feel like a home but rather like an unfinished pothead home
February 13th, 2008 at 7:38 pmI love the lack of artifice and the attempt to get back to basics. The floor is particularly stunning. But I can’t help but feel this space would become tiring to live in and would never really feel “finished.”
February 13th, 2008 at 11:27 pmThis looks stunning. I particularly luv the reflective floor. Does anyone know how it is done?
February 14th, 2008 at 12:04 pmDreadfull, terrible, disgusting.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:09 amWhat kind of work (?) is that???
No future architecture, is it?
This is not a place to live, but to die.
Significant work of contemporary interior design.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:04 amKawakubo like, but reality. look at the sofa! I really love this
Uninterrupted space. Absolutely stunning!
Lee Klein,
February 15th, 2008 at 10:00 pmFine Artist
http://leeklein.wordpress.com
Stunning! Beautiful!
February 16th, 2008 at 8:38 pmGreat sofa! Original! ZEN!
Wow. That certainly is an interesting “renovation.” I hope they don’t really expect any self-respecting human being to pay full price for (at best) half a job.
“But it’s so minimalist”‘ you might say. So is prison, and we all know how many people are just clamoring to live there (judging by the US prison population, you might think they are). Yeah, it’s interesting. Yeah, it’s edgy. Yeah, it makes for some pretty striking photographs. But, architecture is about more than just making a statement. It’s about more than creating striking images fit for glossy, sexy photographs. It’s about creating an enriching space for human habitation. The space pictured is cold, sterile, void. Nothing about that says “come live here. Come enjoy this space.” At it’s core, the space is fundamentally intended to be occupied. It’s an apartment within an apartment building: a space for living. If it’s intended as a commentary on how sterile housing can be, it’s a good one. The problem is, it seems to promote that coldness as an acceptable environment by recreating it in a renovation that was most importantly an opportunity to improve the quality of an existing space.
If I lived in this “space” the only thing I would be inspired to do would be to move…or head to the roof: the only acceptable space in the entire building, ironically located outside (judging by these photos).
March 19th, 2008 at 4:07 amBeautiful
March 20th, 2008 at 9:15 pm