Dezeen Magazine

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

Japanese architect Hiroyuki Miyabe of Speac Inc. has renovated this house covered in ivy by stripping it back to its structural elements.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

Miyabe removed the ceilings and internal partitions, reinforcing the structure with diagonal braces.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

The interior has been painted white except for the roof and structural columns on the first floor.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

The ivy covering the building before the renovation has been trimmed away from the windows but will be allowed to regrow, covering the walls of the house.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

Here's more from Miyabe:


The Ivy House

This was a deserted house that called a haunted house because of the ivy covering the whole. We renovated it as a dwelling and office.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

All windows were closed with the ivy and the spaces that partitioned into small pieces were very dark.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

However, we thought the ivy as the most charming feature and conserve it except for the one in front of the windows.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

After the partitions and ceilings were removed, we reinforced the structure with the diagonal braces and walls.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

By this process to make the room looked wider, we arranged the member of the structural reinforcement paying attention to the 3 dimensional perspective and sequence and made the structural material of the roof and floors exposed.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

And all the things excepting for the wooden structure of the roof and columns of the 2nd floor was painted white.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

The space of the 1st floor is filled with brightness giving a hint of the texture of old structure.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

At the 2nd floor we find the preserved wooden structure in contrast with whitened things.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

Above: before renovation

Now the time that had passed through this house is visualized as a charm. The ivy is growing up today ticking away time.

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

Architect: Hiroyuki Miyabe (SPEAC,inc.)
Location: Toshima-ku Tokyo Japan
Producer: Hiroya Yoshizato (SPEAC,inc.)

Ivy house by Hiroyuki Miyabe

Architect in Charge: Tomoko Kawai (SPEAC,inc.)
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Takeshi Yamagishi