House in MITATE / Lenz Architects

closed

For example, tatami is usually sized 910mm x 1820mm/ made with igusa/ light green. However, with a modern Japanese style tatami, it is sometimes square-sized or even dyed black. We looked at each part and studied its shape/ material/ and color. We concluded that by using “MITATE” with these three factors, we will be able to create a flexible Japanese-style space. In this house, things like grid ceilings, sliding doors, and a pink veranda use “MITATE” with at least one factor each.There is a traditional Japanese style of space segmentation using paper sliding doors. We changed the shape of those segments and by doing so, multiple parts would come into view at the same time, creating complex relationships, and making the flexible Japanese-style space more prominent. This new flexible Japanese style space uses “MITATE” to flexibly fit into new lifestyles and adapt while keeping the essence of the traditional Japanese style room.We had a desire to bring in the furniture that we either made or collected over the years and live in a modern style however it was impossible to do a full renovation within the tight budget of 2,500,000 yen. We decided to use the Japanese style “MITATE” technique to realize a modern living within the designs of the “Japanese style space”. “MITATE” is using one thing as another thing and fulfilling the needs such as using a bamboo tube as a vase.A loose relationship created by “MITATE”.This is a renovation of a 50-year-old two-story wooden house. When seeing its original state, the parts such as the walls with exposed pillars, tatami, and paper sliding doors gave us the impression of an inflexible and stubborn state. At the same time, we felt as though these parts were intensionally used to make this “stubborn Japanese style space”.