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

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

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

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.

Here’s more from Miyabe:

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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