Japanese architect Keiji Ashizawa has created the interior for a skincare clinic in Tokyo, using textiles and custom-made furniture to make it feel more residential than medical.

The Aloop Clinic & Lab, which provides "skin cure and care", is located in the city's upscale Ginza area and run by Japanese beauty company POLA. Ashizawa wanted to give it an interior that would feel peaceful, while also representing the brand.

"As a clinic that uses medical technology to deal with beauty, we thought that the space should have sincerity, calmness, and beauty in order to create a comfortable time for customers to feel at ease," Ashizawa told Dezeen.

"In addition, considering that this is a completely new business for the POLA beauty brand, we felt that it was necessary to create a space that would enhance the brand."

To do so, Ashizawa looked at the design of the 210-square-metre clinic like he would if he were designing a residential space, giving it a calm, minimalist interior.

"Although it is a clinic, I considered the space to be similar to a hotel or a living space," he said. "Therefore, I used materials that I use in designing living spaces and hotels."

"The walls are plaster and the floor is a wool rug from Hotta Carpet," he added. "The sofa and furniture at the characteristic entrance are made of Kvadrat wool textile to create a pleasant texture."

The architect used a clean, simple colour palette throughout the space, with white-painted walls contrasting against wooden panelling and wooden doors.

"Wood was used for doors, furniture and details because we wanted to create a residential calm rather than a clinic," Ashizawa said. "We felt that a bright and healthy atmosphere was necessary."

"The extensive use of wood was to create a residential atmosphere, and we wanted the space to be as far away from a typical clinic as possible," he added.

His studio worked together with wooden furniture brand Karimoku to design the custom-made sofas for the space, which welcome customers as they enter the clinic.

"Of particular importance to this project were the custom sofas," Ashizawa said.

"We asked Karimoku, with whom we communicate on a daily basis for furniture development and wood projects, to work with us on the development of the furniture."

He compared his collaboration with the brand to that of mid-century modern Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and furniture brand Artek.

"For me, Karimoku has become an indispensable partner in thinking about space, just as Aalto is for Artek," he explained.

By creating the sofas with rounded edges, Ashizawa aimed for them to "gently envelop" customers after their treatments.

"The mere fact that something looks hard or painful makes the body tense, so we thought it would be desirable to eliminate such things," he said.

"However, in order to maintain a comfortable sense of tension in the room, delicate details of metal and wood were used to achieve a balance."

Small sculptures were dotted throughout the Aloop clinic, including in the treatment rooms.

Ashizawa has previously designed an interior with a similar colour palette for the Hiroo Residence in Tokyo, and also used plenty of wood for his and Norm Architects minimalist Trunk Hotel design.

The photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.

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An exposed raw concrete facade fronts the Trunk Hotel Yoyogi Park, which Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design and Danish firm Norm Architects conceived as a minimalist retreat in the heart of the city.

Marking the third location in a trio of Trunk hotels in Tokyo, the design of the boutique hotel was rooted in the concept of "urban recharge", according to Trunk chief creative officer Masayuki Kinoshita.

The hotel group said the idea was to balance the opposing elements of tradition and modernity as well as nature and the city and the melding of both Japanese and European craft.

Keiji Ashizawa Design created a textured concrete aggregate facade for the seven-storey building, which is punctuated with steel-lined balconies and overlooks Yoyogi Park's lush treetops.

The studio worked with Norm Architects to design the minimalist interior, accessed via a copper-clad entrance.

A total of 20 guest rooms and five suites were dressed in a muted colour and material palette featuring hardwood flooring and plush Hotta Carpet-designed rugs informed by traditional Japanese architecture.

Delicate rattan partition walls delineate spaces within the rooms, which open out onto the building's balconies that were fitted with slanted ceilings in order to encourage sunlight into each room "as if mimicking the gentle transitions of a day".

"It's been an interesting journey for us to find the right balance between a space that is relaxed and vibrant at the same time," said Norm Architects co-founder Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.

The rooms are also characterised by paper-cord chairs and tapered washi pendant lights as well as abstract artworks, amorphous vases and grainy floor-to-ceiling bathroom tiles.

On the ground floor, oak seating designed by Norm Architects for Karimoku features in the hotel restaurant, which includes a striking copper-clad pizza oven and the same rattan accents that can be found in the guest rooms.

"It is a very unique and gratifying experience in the sense that the architecture, interior and furniture, as well as the attention to detail, have created a space with such a strong sense of unity," said Keiji Ashizawa Design.

An open-air pool club is located on the sixth floor of the hotel.

Sand-blasted concrete flooring was paired with thin bluey-green tiles that make up the infinity swimming pool, which overlooks the park below.

A "glowing" firepit can also be set alight after dark, intended to create a soothing contrast with the bright Tokyo skyline.

The city's first Trunk Hotel opened in Shibuya in 2017, while the second location is an offbeat one-room hotel in the metropolis's Kagurazaka neighbourhood featuring its own miniature nightclub.

The photography is by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.

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Architect Keiji Ashizawa has created a Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Shanghai's Qiantan area with a glazed facade and interiors in a hue that nods to the city's brick buildings.

Located next to a park in the recently developed Qiantan area, Ashizawa designed the oval-shaped cafe to reference its immediate surroundings.

His studio removed the floor slabs from the first floor of the building, creating a double-height space with an atrium-like feeling for the ground floor of the cafe that would have a connection to the surrounding park.

"In rainy Shanghai, we wanted to provide a place where people could enjoy the park even on rainy days," Ashizawa told Dezeen.

"Also, looking at the overall plan of the park, I thought that a rich interior space was required," he continued.

"The result is seen as a greenhouse, like those found in botanical gardens. I thought that adding a new story to the park would increase its enjoyment."

From the ground floor, a long stairway leads down to the cafe's basement level, which houses the main coffee counter.

The staircase in Blue Bottle Coffee Qiantan was designed to reference the colour of soil and have a cave-like feeling.

"We decided to create a cave-like space for visitors to appreciate the long stairway down to the basement, creating an experience that is like crawling through the earth in the park," the studio said.

It also evokes the colour of red bricks, which are commonly used for Shanghai architecture. The same hue was used for the coffee counter and for a tall central wall.

"Shanghai's brick architecture in the old city is a strong contrast to the architecture of modern Shanghai, and it leaves a very strong impression on the eye," Ashizawa said.

"We wanted to preserve some of Shanghai's image in this newly developed location and architecture," he added.

"At the same time, since the cafe is located in a park, I wanted to create a sense of unity by using the image of earth in the architecture."

On the ground floor, pale-wood stools are gathered around circular grey tables.

Downstairs, Ashizawa clad the walls in greige microcement and added wooden chairs, tables and counters.

Large trees decorate both the basement and the ground floor, adding to the cafe's botanical atmosphere.

"The goal was to create a connection between the outside and the inside, with a natural form similar to that of the outdoor trees," Ashizawa said.

Wooden benches also offer visitors the option to drink their coffee outside in the park.

Ashizawa has designed numerous other Blue Bottle Coffee shops, including one in a Kobu department store and another Shanghai outpost that was decorated with Chinese roof tiles.

The photography is by Jonathan Leijonhufvud.

Project credits: 

Architect: Keiji Ashizawa Design
Project architect: Keiji Ashizawa / Chaoyen Wu
Lighting Design: Aurora / Yoshiki Ichikawa
Landscape Design: Hashiuchi Garden Design / Hashiuchi Tomoya

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Designer Keiji Ashizawa has devised the interiors of The Conran Shop Daikanyama in Tokyo, which is located inside a building by architect Fumihiko Maki and spotlights products from Japan and Asia.

The latest outpost from British retailer The Conran Shop is located in the modernist Hillside Terrace in Daikanyama, a quiet area close to the Tokyo city centre.

The complex was designed by Pritzker Prize-winner Maki and constructed between 1967 and 1992.

Ashizawa aimed to take the existing architecture of the two-storey building into consideration when designing the interior of The Conran Shop.

"Since the existing space had great potential, we knew that the work had to be put into elevating what was already there – thinking about the proportions of the space, the dry area and so on," he told Dezeen.

"Although it is inside a well-known architecture, there were elements where we thought we could bring change to the inside."

These changes included turning one glass section into a solid wall.

"Glass walls were used extensively as part of the architectural concept so that the store space could be viewed through the layers of glass," Ashizawa said.

"While building the store, we decided that there wouldn't be a problem in making a section of the glass wall become a solid wall, considering its serenity as a space and its relationship with the street."

The designer created the 200-square-metre store to look like someone's home, in a nod to the peaceful nature of the surrounding area. It features a large atrium on the ground floor, connecting it to an adjoining courtyard.

"Daikanyama is a very calm neighbourhood in Tokyo, where we wished to design a store where people could feel relaxed and away from the stimulation of the city," Ashizawa said.

"We intended to create a space for people to stay for a long period of time and feel the space."

The interior design was also based on The Conran Shop's three keywords – plain, simple and useful – CEO of The Conran Shop Japan Shinichiro Nakahara told Dezeen.

The store's product selection also places a special focus on Japanese and Asian design.

"Specifically for The Conran Shop Daikanyama, the selections were focused on objects from Asia, including Japan," Nakahara said.

"The process of [founder] Terence [Conran] travelling around the world, finding and buying items in each place by himself, has not changed," he added. "Many of the objects selected by the Conran team in Japan have a sense of craftsmanship."

"We created the space by imagining a situation in which such objects would be displayed alongside each other. For example, the details of the objects are reflected in the interior design."

The interior uses materials that are common in Japan including concrete, steel, wood, plaster, Japanese stone and paper.

"The use of Japanese paper in interior design is an element that is distinctively Japanese," Ashizawa explained.

"Shoji screens are an important element in creating a Japanese-style room but I realize that they can also be well used in both functional and aesthetic ways in a modern space."

The studio also used Japanese paper that had been dyed in a grey hue as wallpaper to give the space a "soft and contemporary feel."

"Since we weren't building an actual house but rather a home-like Conran store, the materials were thoughtfully instrumented to achieve a balance," Ashizawa said.

The ground floor of the store holds furniture, homeware and apparel, and also has a mezzanine floor that is accessible by a staircase featuring a handrail made from black paper cords.

Ashizawa designed the basement floor, which functions both as an additional shopping area and a gallery space, to have a calmer atmosphere.

"Filled with natural light, the ground floor uses colours that bring grandeur and a sense of calmness," he said.

"The basement floor is toned to create a more private feeling. We respected the natural colours of the materials as much as possible, while also considering the harmony with the objects on display and in the gallery."

The Conran Shop Daikanyama also has an adjoining bar where visitors can enjoy teas such as sencha and macha.

Ashizawa has previously worked on a number of other projects in Tokyo, including the Bellustar Tokyo "hotel in the sky" and the Hiroo Residence.

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Japanese designer Keiji Ashizawa and Danish studio Norm Architects have unveiled their design for the Bellustar Tokyo hotel, which aims to evoke a sense of nature in the middle of Tokyo's urban Shinjuku district.

The two studios worked together to design interiors for five penthouse suites as well as hospitality spaces for the top floors of the Bellustar Tokyo, 200 metres above the ground in Shinjuku's Kabukicho tower.

Norm Architects and Keiji Ashizawa Design had to take the city views from the building into account when designing the hotel rooms, which are spread over three levels from the 45th to the 47th floor.

"I would say that it is the tallest hotel I have worked on," Ashizawa told Dezeen, describing it as "a quiet hotel in the sky of Shinjuku".

"Since there are no nearby buildings at this elevation, there was no need to be concerned about privacy, and it feels surreal that the views from all the windows are almost always spectacular," he added.

"That is why the relationship between views from the windows and the space is indeed very simple."

Both studios were involved in the spatial organisation of the five penthouse suites as well as the placement of the hotel's three restaurants, its top-floor spa and a penthouse lounge designed for guests to enjoy the setting sun.

Ashizawa and Norm Architects drew on their signature use of natural materials and muted palettes to create the interiors for the five guestrooms.

These were informed by the "beauty of the four seasons in Japan" and have names such as Hana (wind) and Tsuki (moon).

The rooms have been furnished with pieces by the studios' Karimoku Case Study series for wood furniture company Karimoku and feature a mix of natural materials.

"The use of organic forms and natural materials like wood and stone can be seen as an antidote to the city that serves as artworks through the grand windows," the studios said.

Among the tactile details in the guest rooms are stone-topped bedside tables and wood-panelled headboards.

"The idea is to create a balance of hardness and softness against the large area of the room that will be covered with textiles," Ashizawa said.

As the guestrooms have floor-to-ceiling windows, the bedrooms and living rooms feature benches and curtains that were added "to create a little distance from the view to make the space feel more comfortable," Ashizawa explained.

A colour palette of mainly white, ivory and gray was used throughout the Bellustar Tokyo, which is a Pan Pacific hotel, with darker colours creating contrast in some of the spaces.

"The color palette is what we and Norm Architects consider to be the colors of nature, and we hope to create a sense of richness by evoking nature in Shinjuku, the most Tokyo-like place in the city," Ashizawa said.

"As an antidote to the city, we have tried to listen to nature's story of artistry, optimism, imperfection, and impermanence, and bring these poignant qualities into the work," Norm Architects added.

Ashizawa also used tiles and handcrafted details to create more tactile walls in some areas of the hotel, including in the main restaurant, which has custom-made tiles from Japan.

The Bellustar Tokyo features three restaurants: the main restaurant and bar, which was designed solely by Ashizawa, as well as a sushi restaurant and a teppanyaki restaurant.

Here, the studios worked with material palettes that include wood and brick.

"The sushi and teppanyaki restaurants are designed to feel like small hidden and intimate traditional city restaurants but transformed into contemporary places on the top of Tokyo," Norm Architects said.

"Both restaurants have their own unique character and material palette where the sushi restaurant is bright and works with hinoki [cypress wood], the teppanyaki place is dark and dominated by dark bricks in creative patterns."

The studios hope that by using natural materials and muted colours, the Bellustar Tokyo will function as a refuge from the busy city.

"We hope that the guests of the hotel will first experience the vibrant atmosphere of the Shinjuku Kabukicho district of Tokyo, and then enjoy the serenity of the penthouse interior – as if the lively Tokyo scenery were like a Zen temple's karesansui (dry landscape garden)," Ashizawa said.

Previous projects by Keiji Ashizawa Design include the Hiroo Residence overlooking Tokyo's Arisugawanomiya Memorial Park and the Kyoto showroom for Karimoku.

Norm Architects recently created a headquarters for children's brand Liewood and an inside-out greenhouse restaurant in Sweden.

Project credits:

Interior architecture: Keiji Ashizawa Design: Keiji Ashizawa, Mariko Irie, Kenji Kawami, Yuichiro Takei. Norm Architects: Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen, Peter Eland, Frederik Werner
Bellustar penthouse (five penthouses): Keiji Ashizawa Design and Norm Architects
Bellustar restaurant and bar: Keiji Ashizawa Design
Spa Sunya: Keiji Ashizawa Design
Furniture, fixtures and equipment: Keiji Ashizawa Design and Norm Architects

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Designer Keiji Ashizawa used muted tones to make the most of the sunlight in this apartment in central Tokyo, which features wooden art pieces and furniture that was specially designed for the space.

For the Hiroo Residence, named after its location in the city's Hiroo neighbourhood, Ashizawa wanted to underline the quality of the light in the flat.

In the open-plan kitchen and living room, light streams in from a balcony, and the designer took advantage of this light source by creating a cut-out wall so that the light carries through to the hallway next to it.

"I think you can see we have a very nice sunlight here," he told Dezeen during a walkthrough of the apartment. "So I didn't want to use white, as it would be too bright – instead I used muted, subtle tones."

He also wanted Hiroo Residence to feel like a peaceful place to come home to in a busy city, using natural materials to create a calm ambience.

"Outside it's super noisy but inside it's very quiet, so I chose muted tones that also fuse with the materials; the wood and the stone," Ashizawa said.

The tranquil 200-square-metre apartment, which overlooks the Arisugawanomiya Memorial Park, has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, as well as a kitchen and dining area, a small workspace and plenty of storage spaces.

Before designing the interior, Ashizawa changed the layout of the flat to make it more open, taking out an existing hallway to create a bigger dining space.

"Our goal was to design a space that can only be created by meticulously crafting from the smallest detail to the furniture, resulting in a quiet, comforting, and inspiring atmosphere with little noise, surrounded by natural materials crafted with tactility," Ashizawa said of the design.

He worked with the Japanese wooden furniture company Karimoku on the project, which is the eighth in its Karimoku Case Study series that sees it collaborate with architects on bespoke furniture and interior projects.

As a result, wood was used throughout Hiroo Residence, with white-stained oak covering many of the floors.

Ashizawa also worked with Karimoku to create wooden window frames and sliding doors, which were placed throughout the flat to add privacy without taking up too much space.

The furniture matches the wooden interior details and includes two pieces created especially for the project – a sideboard with decorative wooden slats and a dining chair with a woven seat that was inspired by both Shaker designs and classic Scandinavian chairs.

In the bedroom of Hiroo Residence, wooden wall panels add a tactile and more natural feel, which is echoed in the built-in shelves and drawers in the en-suite walk-in closet.

Cabinets were also used to hide different functions in the kitchen, where a large wooden unit takes up an entire wall.

Even smaller details in the flat, such as the long kitchen lamp, were made from the material.

Artworks in wood by Danish art studio Atelier Plateau and the artist Sara Martinsen, which were created especially for the space,  decorate the walls.

Karimoku has worked with Ashizawa on a number of projects, including its second showroom which just opened in Kyoto, Japan, and the Azabu Residence Case Study, where the designer referenced mid-century American design.

The photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.

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Designer Keiji Ashizawa has created the interior of Japanese furniture brand Karimoku's second showroom, which features a combination of its own wooden furniture and pieces by local artists and artisans.

Set in a three-storey building, the brand describes Karimoku Commons Kyoto as a "hybrid space", which will function as a showroom and also house office spaces for employees.

The space is located inside a former machiya – a traditional Japanese wooden townhouse – in Kyoto, a city known for its temples, Shinto shrines and gardens.

Ashizawa, who has worked with Karimoku for years and also designed its first showroom in Tokyo, looked to the history of both the city and the building when designing the interior.

"I really wanted to use the language of the townhouse and also took inspiration from Kyoto gardens," Ashizawa told Dezeen.

For the showroom's ground floor area, he drew on the doma areas in traditional Japanese homes, which had bare dirt floors and functioned as a bridge between the indoors and the outdoors.

Here, Ashizawa placed furniture in light-coloured wood, including chairs by British architect Norman Foster and pieces by Danish studio Norm Architects and Ashizawa himself.

The floor is grey concrete, which was matched by pale-grey plaster walls and a ceiling in the same colour.

Wooden slats, of a kind traditionally used in Kyoto homes and stores to let light into buildings while maintaining privacy, cover parts of the glazing at the front of the room.

Light wooden panelling by Karimoku hides built-in storage spaces and functions as a shelf.

On the first floor, Ashizawa chose to use a darker colour palette, with furniture pieces in smoked oak wood and flooring and wall panels in dark wood.

"When you visit a tourism house or a temple in Kyoto, the old wood, like on the temple floors, is a very dark colour," he said. "I thought such a colour had to be the key colour [for the project]."

The layout of this area also drew on the walkways and paths of Kyoto's temple gardens.

"It's more of a guide to how to articulate the space," Ashizawa explained. "We can think of the furniture as an art piece or a stone – it's a kind of installation."

The top floor of Karimoku Commons Kyoto will function as a "library space" and showcase the latest collections and collaborations from the contemporary Case Study, Karimoku New Standard, MAS and Ishinomaki Laboratory brands.

Throughout the showroom, earthy ceramics and rough-hewn sculptures by Japanese artists were used as decoration, which add to the organic feel brought by the wood.

Pieces by ceramics brand Nota Shop in the nearby Shiga prefecture and vases by Kyoto artist Ai Ono were among the objects chosen for the space by stylist Yumi Nakata, who worked with Ashizawa on the project.

These were placed on tables and shelves as well as in wall recesses informed by traditional Japanese tokonoma alcoves, where homeowners would display artistic objects.

"There are so many places in which to show something," Ashizawa said of Karimoku Commons Kyoto.

"In a traditional Japanese house, there are many spaces like this, showing paintings, ceramics or flowers, which I think is one of the beauties of the culture of the Japanese house. In many ways, we tried to make such a space."

Karimoku, which is Japan's largest wooden furniture brand, started out making traditional Japanese furniture.

It now also works with a number of designers on the more contemporary sub-brands Case Study, Karimoku New Standard, MAS and Ishinomaki Laboratory, which are the four brands that will be sold in the Karimoku Commons Kyoto showroom.

Ashikawa hopes the space will help to promote a modern design aesthetic.

"Karimoku is trying to promote modern furniture in modern life," he said. "I need to explain about the Japanese living space situation – for example, in 1960, sixty years ago, we didn't have much furniture in the living space."

"And then the modern living space came to Japan and people started buying their tables, chairs and even the sofa; it's quite new, so people don't necessarily understand how to use a sofa," he added.

"Japanese living spaces can be too messy, so it's quite nice to show them like this."

Previous projects by Ashizawa include a curve-shaped tofu restaurant and a Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Kobe. Karimoku recently collaborated with Foster on a collection of furniture used in the architect's Foster Retreat in Martha's Vineyard.

The photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.

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Japanese designer Keiji Ashizawa paid homage to the food on offer when designing the Saga Hirakawaya tofu restaurant, which hopes to revitalise a depopulated community in Japan.

Located in the hot spring resort Takeo Onsen in Japan's Saga prefecture, the curved restaurant was designed to blend in with the surrounding environment, including a historical tower gate.

"Tofu, a food culture rooted in the region of Saga prefecture, is the main ingredient of this restaurant," Ashizawa told Dezeen. "Since tofu is a simple food, we chose materials with a sense of simplicity such as wood, concrete and walls finished in plaster to bring out the texture in the materials."

"With a background of wishing to use local materials, wood was used for the entrance, windows and undersurface of eaves to match the wood from Ariake, a furniture brand based in Saga."

The studio also used shirasu – a type of volcanic ash from Mount Sakurajima in Kyushu – as a plastering material for the building's exterior walls.

Saga Hirakawaya has a curved design forming a semi-open interior courtyard, which holds a foot bath with hot spring water that aims to encourage the restaurant's customers to eat and stay outside the establishment for longer.

Inside the 435-square-metre restaurant, the interior matches the exterior with pale grey walls that nod to the food on the menu.

"As the ceiling and walls are curved, pale colours are used to extend the light beautifully in the restaurant, complemented by the use of grey colours on the walls and floors," Ashizawa said. "It also signifies the whiteness of the tofu."

The restaurant's ground floor houses a shop selling tofu-based products and sweets, while the first floor is home to a restaurant serving onsen yudofu – a type of tofu made using hot spring water.

An open atrium connects the shop and restaurant, which both feature large windows.

Circular lamps made by local paper manufacturer Nao Washi hang over the tables while the wooden furniture was made by furniture brand Ariake, which manufactures in Saga prefecture.

The decision to open the Saga Hirakawaya restaurant in Takeo Onsen was made by its owner, who was born and raised in the area and wanted to help revitalise the community, which has suffered from a population decline.

"Depopulation is inevitable in rural areas of Japan," Ashizawa said. "But in order to revitalise a region, it is important to attract people to the area through tourism."

"The client decided to create a restaurant serving onsen yudofu, believing that the region's unique culinary culture could be an incentive to visit the area for sightseeing."

"We deeply sympathise with the client's hope to make the most of the wonderful location in front of the historical tower gate of Takeo Onsen, an important cultural asset, and to combine it with the region's unique food culture to attract tourists from both inside and outside of Japan, contributing to the revitalisation of the area," he added.

Other recent projects by Ashizawa include a Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Kobe and a mid-century-modern-informed residence in Tokyo.

The photography is by Ben Richards.

Project credits:

Architect: Keiji Ashizawa Design
Project architect: Keiji Ashizawa, Kentaro Yamaguchi, Tsubasa Furuichi
Construction: Yamakami Inc
Furniture: Hirata Chair/Legnatec
Lighting: Saito Shomei/Nao Washi

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Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design has created the interior of the Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Kobe's Hankyu department store, taking advantage of its display windows to connect the cafe with the street outside.

The 173-square-metre cafe, which shares the department store's ground floor with a number of apparel brands, has five large display windows.

To open the coffee shop up towards the street, designer Keiji Ashizawa turned one of the windows into a take-out counter.

The remaining window niches were filled with blue built-in seating, creating a splash of colour among the wooden furniture.

Inside the cafe, square-shaped and rectangular furniture nods to the graphic look of the facade and is contrasted by round tables and large circular ceiling lights.

"The furniture is mainly made of domestic wood in collaboration with the Japanese furniture manufacturer Karimoku, who specializes in working with oak wood," Ashizawa told Dezeen.

The studio also mixed in terrazzo amongst the wooden furniture to give the cafe a welcoming feel.

"By placing a large terrazzo tabletop with fine textures created by mixing grounded glass into the material, it adds to the soft and welcoming atmosphere that identifies Blue Bottle Coffee and their hospitality," Ashizawa said.

"It is also used for the low coffee table surrounded by the sofas, creating a sense of harmony and elegance throughout the space of the cafe," he added.

While the studio was unable to change the material of the existing rough concrete floor, the department store allowed it to create a discrete demarcation by polishing the floor underneath the central tables.

Large disc-shaped pendant lights add a sense of drama to the coffee shop's pared-back design.

"With the idea of creating a high ceiling within the space, the pendant lights were made from raw aluminum to complement the industrial structures," Ashizawa said.

"Six pendant lights are placed in the central space at equal distances in three zones, creating a sense of rhythm and spatial balance."

The wooden furniture inside the Blue Bottle Coffe Hankyu cafe has mainly been kept in its natural colour, but Ashizawa added bright colour to some of the wood.

"In the space with concrete structures, the yellow color was added to balance the combination of wood and concrete, and the blue color was placed as a contrast," he said.

"We also designed the space to fit in with the apparel brands that share the ground floor."

Ashizawa has previously created a number of cafes for the Blue Bottle Coffee company, including a Shanghai store decorated with traditional Chinese roof tiles and a Tokyo outpost with a volcanic-ash counter.

The photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.

Project credits:

Architect: Keiji Ashizawa Design
Project architect: Keiji Ashizawa, Tomohiko Fujishita, Masaru Kiotya
Construction: Tank
Design supervision: Miyachi Office/Kunihiko Miyachi
Lighting design: Aurora/Yoshiki Ichikawa
Furniture: Karimoku Case Study/Ichinomaki Laboratory by Karimoku
Metal works: Super Robot

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Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design has used traditional Chinese roof tiles as the key material at Blue Bottle Coffee's latest shop in Shanghai to celebrate local culture.

Set to open on Friday, the cafe is located on the first and second floors of a building connected to the Kerry Centre in downtown Shanghai, close to the over 1,000-year-old Jing'an Temple.

Keiji Ashizawa Design placed a total of 13,000 handmade brick tiles on the bar counter, stairwell wall and the lounge area of the cafe.

This particular type of bricks, which have semi-circular edges, were made in Yixing, a nearby city that is known for its clayware manufacturing. A new smoking process was used for the surface of the tiles to increase their strength and create a subtle reflective effect.

"As Blue Bottle Coffee commits to create local communities around their cafes, we always determine the materials and design based on the local, both culture and history," studio founder Keiji Ashizawa said.

"Working on a project in mainland China as a Japanese architectural firm, I felt that there was an importance in considering the common aspects between the two cultures," he added.

"With that in mind, we looked through images I photographed and found an image of a roof I took from a restaurant in Chengdu, which inspired me to use roof tiles for the cafe."

A coffee bar that connects both floors is at the centre of the space, while seating and product displaying areas are arranged around it.

According to Blue Bottle Coffee, this is to encourage customers to interact with the process of coffee making.

The stairwell is right next to the bar counter on the first floor so that when people walk up to the second floor, they are able to watch coffee being made at the bar area from different heights.

An open lounge space at the second floor features a hanging paper light above a seating area with dark-brown furniture and leather cushions.

Where the shop connects to the Kerry Centre, a series of semi-circular recessed seating areas have been carved out from the wall on both floors.

The rounded shape of the seating areas not only responds to the roof tiles but also creates privacy for the customers dining in the cafe.

Keiji Ashizawa Design used concrete in a variety of colours and textures all over the cafe, which has structural columns and slabs in raw concrete. Natural oak furniture was selected to add warmth to the interior.

Blue Bottle Coffee was founded as a small roastery in Oakland, California, by James Freeman in 2002 and has since grown into a chain of cafes across the USA and Asia.

This is the second Blue Bottle Coffee shop in mainland China. The first one was opened in February this year, designed by Schemata Architects, also in Shanghai.

Previously, Keiji Ashizawa Design has designed three Blue Bottle Coffee shops in Japan.

The photography is by Chen Hao.

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Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design used bricks and a warm colour palette in its design for the Blue Bottle Coffee shop in the Shiroiya Hotel in Maebashi, Japan.

The studio designed the coffee shop, which opened last month, inside a space within the newly built Green Tower at the Shiroiya Hotel that it described as "cave-like."

"The feeling of the original structure of the interior space was literally hard and forbidding before the construction," studio founder Ashizawa told Dezeen.

"I decided to have a fun characteristic where the homely atmosphere in the interior space would coexist with the distinct stony feeling of the cave entrance, by applying a warmer tone throughout the floor, counter top, sofa, and furniture, yet still utilizing the original concrete structure including pillars and beams in the space."

A type of brick commonly found in historic buildings in Maebashi was used for the floors, with the bar counter plastered to complement its colouring.

Furniture for the cafe was specially designed in collaboration with Karimoku Furniture, which also partnered with Keiji Ashizawa Design on a Blue Bottle Coffee shop in the Shibuya district of Tokyo.

The lighting fixtures in the cafe, as well as detailing on the furniture, are made from copper.

"Responding to the textures of the bricks and the counters, we chose copper with a slight shimmer for the lighting fixtures and furniture, paper cords for the entrance handles, and upholstery for the sofas which are a collection of materials that are tactile and felt by touch," the studio said.

Like in other Blue Bottle Coffee shops, the bar counter is situated so it can be seen from outside.

"Although it is a relatively small space, we tried to create a park-like environment where one can casually sit by providing sofa benches as the main type of seating," Ashizawa added.

"In particular, we ensured that the large sofa located in the middle would be comfortable for customers of all ages, from small children, parents to elderly, so that the space would feel welcoming to everyone."

A new art piece by local artist Yoshio Shirakawa, a study on the history of Maebashi titled 'Akagiyama Dragon Body', was chosen for the wall.

The Shiroiya's own history dates back over 300 years, with the existing 1970s hotel closing in 2008.

It was reopened in December 2020 following a drastic revamp designed by architect Sou Fujimoto, which saw the old building's internal floors removed and the construction of the Green Tower – a grassy hill containing cabins – where the coffee shop is located.

Blue Bottle Coffee was founded as a small roastery in Oakland, California by James Freeman in 2002, and has since grown into a chain of cafes across the USA and Asia, with several in Japan.

Photography is by Ben Richards.

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Brick-like tiles with a volcanic ash glaze created by Formafantasma and textured concrete walls feature in this coffee shop in Shibuya, Tokyo, by Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design.

Located a short walk from Tokyo's busy downtown area, this Blue Bottle Coffee outpost was conceived as an urban retreat sandwiched between two parks.

It serves coffee during the day and appetisers and natural wine in the evenings.

Keiji Ashizawa Design, which also designed the coffee brand's Yokohama outpost, wanted to create a warm and welcoming interior that brought the park surroundings into the glass-walled and concrete-floored space.

"It was a challenge to come up with a playful interior plan in this square two-storey building," Ashizawa told Dezeen.

"The other challenge was to make links between the first and second floors, and the exterior and interior."

To bring the outside in, the studio installed a large, curved tile counter that wraps around the cafe's kitchen area and welcomes customers as they enter.

The brown tiles – developed as a collaboration between London material manufacturer Dzek, and the Amsterdam-based design studio Formafantasma – are finished with a special volcanic ash glaze.

A single skilled artisan laid more than 7,000 of the tiles in the cafe. As well as the counter, they cover a low coffee table and a wall in the upstairs lounge area. Ashizawa said the tiles were specifically chosen to connect the interior and exterior spaces.

"We wanted a park-like item as a key material which stands out in the interior but also makes a strong connection between first and second floor, and the exterior and interior at the same time," explained Ashizawa.

"I thought that this tile, which has a brick-like colour, is an item reminiscent of parks in Japan," he continued.

"Also, there is the fact that the soil from volcanic ash is a familiar material in this Kanto region, and I remember that the soil floor of the original Kitaya Park was also Kanto loam."

In addition to the warm-coloured tiles, pink and orange textiles by Kvadrat, and wooden furniture by Karimoku, Ishinomaki Lab and Ariake add warmth to the largely glass and concrete interior.

On Blue Bottle Coffee's ground floor, tables are set at differing heights. The high counter with stools allows customers to watch the barista preparing their coffee, while the lower table provides a good view of the park.

More seating types are installed upstairs, including a lowered floor area with banquette seating upholstered in an autumnal orange textile. This space can be sectioned off from the main area by a grey, sheer curtain.

An oval dining table sits in the centre of the space providing a casual and communal dining option. A high counter table with a library-like light allows for quiet groups and singles to sit at the rear of the space.

At the far end, a low, tiled coffee table is surrounded by comfortable lounge chairs and sofas upholstered in muted pink fabric.

A textured, brushed mortar finish has been applied to the cafe's ceiling on the ground floor, and across a wall upstairs to help improve the acoustics in the space.

"When we plan cafes or restaurants, it is essential to think about acoustics," said Ashizawa. "It is important that you can speak easily and that you can hear the music comfortably."

"When we first saw the condition of the interior - the floor was made of concrete with glass walls. We definitely thought that we should leave the ceiling some kind of texture to promote sound absorption. At the same time, I thought that creating a feeling of touch in the space would have the effect of relaxing customers in the stressful city of Shibuya, like the greenery of a park."

"We hope that visitors will enjoy the warm atmosphere as if they had been invited to visit the welcoming house of a close friend," he concluded.

Photography is by Ben Richard and Masaaki Inoue.

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Danish firm Norm Architects and Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design have designed a mid-century modern-informed interior for Azabu Residence in Tokyo using muted dark tones and warm natural materials.

The two studios also designed bespoke furniture for the apartment, which is located in a building from 1988 that sits on a green plot on a hill in Tokyo.

Playing with texture and materials, Norm Architects and Keiji Ashizawa Design chose stone, dark wood and tactile textiles for the interior.

"This project has been inspired from the interior design of mid-century American and Brazilian modernist uses of warm dark natural materials and wooden wall panelling, lush carpets and tactile upholstery," Keiji Ashizawa told Dezeen.

"Another main narrative is inspired by the well-known Japanese book by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, 'In Praise of Shadows'."

The three-bedroom house measures 238 square metres and includes a living room, a dining area and an entrance space. Norm Architects and Ashizawa clad many of its floors and walls in dark wood, creating a cosy, cave-like feel.

"The Azabu Residence Project is completed in muted, dark tones enhancing and embracing the intimacy of shadows," Norm Architects partner Fredrik Werner told Dezeen.

"The spacious but dimly lit apartment is a cosy, human-centric and protective dwelling away from the noise of the city. A calm and embracing interior for contemplation and private family life."

The original interior had a "dim and calming" entrance area that welcomed visitors into the home.

This informed the revamp of the rest of the space, as the architects chose the materials for the interior with the aim of creating this same atmosphere throughout.

"We've chosen stone flooring for the entrance, natural oak flooring with iron-reaction dyeing in the living and dining space, and plaster for the walls, accented by wooden panels specially supplied by Karimoku for this project," Ashizawa said.

In the combined kitchen and dining room, an oak table and a bench in the same material were specially designed for the space by Keiji Ashizawa Design together with Japanese brand Karimoku.

These are complemented by a beige breakfast bar and a built-in kitchen in dark wood.

For Azabu Residence's living room, Norm Architects and Karimoku designed an armless modular sofa with a simple geometric shape.

The Danish studio also designed a shelf for the room that was informed by the "pattern of supporting columns in architecture." A low glass table and collection of abstract sculptures add a gallery-like feel to the space.

Dark panelling made from smoked oak clads the walls in the main bedroom, which also features open storage cabinets made from the same wood. The bed sits on a wooden plinth that extends from the wall and also functions as a low shelf.

Though the interior's simple design and the abundance of wood evokes both Scandinavian and Japanese interiors, the American influence shows in the layout and the materials used.

"The Azabu project was designed shortly after a trip to the Americas and the inspiration of mid-century American and Brazilian modernism is evident in the use of stone, dark wood and textured textiles," Werner explained.

"The living areas with a small bar niche, the open plan kitchen, lush carpets and bulky comfortable furniture draws inspiration from an array of elements – from the Japanese-inspired Schindler House in Los Angeles to the extravagant New York apartments featured in the series Mad Men," he added.

Azabu Residence is one in a series of Karimoku Case Study interiors designed by Norm Architects and Keiji Ashizawa Design with Karimoku. The studies have previously worked together on three other case studies, including the pine-clad Archipelago House on Sweden's west coast, which was a lighter and more open space.

"Like most other architects we work with the idea of Genius Loci – the spirit of the site," Norm Architects architect and partner Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen said.

"It is all about understanding the site-specific values of a certain site and creating spaces that will fit the location and the narrative or atmosphere you want to create in a certain location. In this case the site dictated a material palette that was different from the previous projects for Karimoku Case Study."

The natural light of the building also helped inform the interior design for Azabu Residence.

"Regardless of the dark tones used to unify the space, the beauty of this home stands out in the morning and early afternoon, with the contrast of direct sunlight peeking into the space, and at night, when the ambiance of the space is created by an elaborate artificial light scheme," Ashizawa said.

Previous Karimoku Case Studies by Norm Architects and Keiji Ashizawa Design also include the Kinuta Terrace apartment block in Tokyo and the Blue Bottle Coffee cafe in Yokohama.

Photography is by Karimoku Case Study.

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Wood-wool cement-board walls and concrete tabletops feature in this Tokyo restaurant interior by Japanese architect Keiji Ashizawa.

Located a few minutes walk from Kawaguchi station in one of Tokyo's largest commuter towns, Grillno is a cosy, 26-seat restaurant that serves a menu of smoked and grilled dishes.

Built on the second floor of a concrete apartment building, the moodily lit interior features walls made from grey wood wool cement board alongside oak floors and doors.

An open kitchen with a long concrete counter allows diners to watch the chefs at work as they eat.

"There are two fundamental inspirations," said Ashizawa, "the building materials used for the thirty-year-old concrete apartment building and the food ingredients the restaurant uses daily."

The 62-square-metre restaurant only opens in the evening, so guests typically experience the space at sunset or after dark.

"The space gets some natural daylight from the entrance," Ashizawa told Dezeen. "The gentle light from the setting sun creates a spectacular atmosphere during the opening hours."

The restaurant's owner is a friend of the Tokyo-based architect, as well as a regular collaborator.

"Since starting his career as a chef, I have been supporting him with the planning of his restaurants — and enjoying eating what he cooks, of course," Ashizawa explained.

"As Grillno is a restaurant specialised in smoked and grilled dishes, we began by planning an open kitchen and a long concrete counter around the kitchen so that people could enjoy watching the chef cook while eating."

A thin, long steel suspension lamp hangs above the concrete counter to create an even light for dining.

"We believe that good restaurants can welcome people in many situations, whether you come by yourself, with your friends and family or for your night out," continued Ashizawa.

"To make the most out of the space as possible, we planned different types of seating arrangements."

These include the rounded counter, which seats up to 14 diners, alongside two cosy wooden tables for couples that are tucked away in a recess, and three tables that seat up to four people on a mix of chairs and benches.

"With a few rough materials, worked expertly by craftsmen, we tried to achieve a relaxing atmosphere with moments of tension to match the food and hospitality," explained Ashizawa.

Incorporating industrial materials that are generally perceived as "rough" into commercial interiors is popular among architects and designers.

Lisbon-based Inês Brandão has created a kitchen from oriented strand board inside a converted barn home in Portugal, while brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana applied hollow ceramic bricks, typically used to build external walls, in a shop interior for Aesop in Sao Paulo.

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Oak chairs sit amongst paper yarn-wrapped columns within this Blue Bottle Coffee cafe in Yokohama, Japan created by Keiji Ashizawa Design and Norm Architects.

The Blue Bottle Coffee cafe occupies a glass-front building in Yokohama's bustling business district, Minatomirai, and looks out across a leafy public park.

This setting became a key point of reference for Tokyo-based studio Keiji Ashizawa Design, which has exclusively decked out the interiors of the cafe with natural materials.

"We have aimed to create an atmosphere which welcomes the local community by mainly using wood, inspired by the park located by the Blue Bottle Coffee Minatomirai," said the studio's eponymous founder, Keiji Ashizawa.

"The building acts as the main character of the park and provides a feeling of kindness with the natural materials in the industrial-looking landscape."

The open floor plan of the cafe is dominated by a huge half-moon service bar, behind which staff prepare drink orders. Its base is clad with slats of light-hued timber, while its countertop is made from flecked grey stone.

Pale timber has additionally been used for the cafe's flooring and its circular tables. Timber also forms smaller decorative elements like the menu board and a couple of oversized, ring-shaped lights that have been suspended from the ceiling.

A series of white, spherical pendant lamps that hang above the cafe's high counter provide extra light as evening falls.

In keeping with the natural material palette, braided paper yarn has been wound around the lower half of the grey support columns that run along the periphery of the room.

Keiji Ashizawa Design asked long-term collaborators, Copenhagen-based practice Norm Architects, to devise a range of seating for the project.

The practice designed three chair models made from Japanese oak wood: a traditional cafe-style chair, a tall bar stool and a slightly more formal dining chair that's partially upholstered in creamy leather – its low, curving backrest is meant to draw subtle reference to the cafe's architecture.

All of the pieces were produced by Karimoku Case Study, the sister brand of Japanese manufacturer Karimoku which collaborates with architects across the world to design furnishings.

Norm Architects and Keiji Ashizawa Design had first worked with Karimoku Case Study back in 2019 on the launch of its inaugural Kinuta collection.

"For us, there couldn't be a better partner to team up with than Karimoku," explained Frederik Werner, partner at Norm Architects.

"They uphold a unique quality and approach to the manufacturing of wooden furniture, maintaining a focus on the craftsmanship combined with the latest robotics, making sure that their philosophy of 'high-tech, high-touch' is truly embedded in each furniture piece leaving the factory."

This is one of several Blue Bottle Coffee cafes in Japan, with others located in Tokyo, Kyoto and Kobe.

The coffee brand was founded by James Freeman in 2002, starting out as a small roastery in Oakland, California before growing into a network of cafes across the US and Asia.

Last year saw Blue Bottle Coffee open its first branch in South Korea, which was designed by Schemata Architects. The cafe is situated in the artsy neighbourhood of Seongsu and features sparse interiors dotted with timber furniture and red-brick display plinths.

Photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.

Project credits:

Design: Keiji Ashizawa & Norm Architects
Construction: #Tank
Furniture: Karimoku Case Study

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A greenery-filled courtyard lies at the heart of this home that Keiji Ashizawa Design has created for a family of five in Tokyo's Yoga neighbourhood.

Located just outside of the bustling, shop-lined streets of Tokyo's Shibuya ward, House in Yoga is designed to let its inhabitants experience the outdoors in an urban context.

The house, created by local studio Keiji Ashizawa Design, comprises a couple of stacked concrete volumes and is interspersed with green spaces.

"We could see the client wanted a humble, elegant house to live in where they can feel a connection to nature," the studio's eponymous founder Keiji Ashizawa told Dezeen.

"Urban life can be hectic, and we feel it is indeed important to make a connection with green and natural elements that we have."

The plot of land that House in Yoga sits on is largely shadowed by a taller neighbouring property, meaning the studio couldn't exclusively rely on windows to bring in views of the outdoors.

As a solution, a glass-walled courtyard sits at the centre of the floor plan, extending up from the ground floor to the second level.

Green shrubbery lines its floor, while at its centre a huge leafy tree has been planted.

The courtyard is visible from House in Yoga's entryway. Here there is a sequence of doors that grant access to a small gym, garage and guest quarters.

A flight of stairs with open timber treads leads up to the first floor, which accommodates an open-plan living area.

Decor throughout has been kept simple – the kitchen features almost-black cabinetry and the sitting room is anchored by a dark-grey sectional sofa. A long wooden table sits in the middle of the dining area, above which tiered paper lamps have been suspended.

Together the spaces face onto a decked outdoor terrace lined with greenery, complete with a simple bench where inhabitants can sit and relax throughout the day. Slatted wooden screens stop passersby on the street from looking in.

The upper branches of the central tree in the courtyard can also be seen from this point of the house.

House in Yoga's bedrooms are on the second floor, where the studio has ensured outdoor space is still accessible.

In the master bathroom, a standalone tub backs onto a glazed sliding door that, when pushed back, leads onto another small open-air courtyard with a fruit tree in a planter.

Keiji Ashizawa Design was established in 2005. The studio often tries to incorporate the outdoors into its residential projects – in 2012 it completed House S, a three-storey property in the Japanese capital which has a garden or roof terrace on every floor.

Most recently the studio worked alongside Copenhagen-based practice Norm Architects to overhaul a pair of Tokyo apartments, reconfiguring their interiors to have better views of a nearby courtyard.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Project credits:

Architect: Keiji Ashizawa Design
Project architect: Keiji Ashizawa/Mariko Irie
Structural engineer: Tetsuya Tanaka Structural Engineers

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Japanese furniture manufacturer Karimoku has launched a sister brand, Karimoku Case Study, which will offer collections of pared-back furniture pieces designed by architects.

Karimoku Case Study was unveiled during 3 Days of Design in an apartment-style exhibition space in the Norm Architects-designed Kinfolk Gallery.

Its inaugural collection, titled Kinuta, comprises eight pieces produced by locally-based practice Norm Architects and Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design.

Made entirely from natural materials, the pieces have been designed in reference to the Kinuta Terrace apartments in Tokyo, which are arranged around a large outdoor courtyard.

To create the collection Norm Architects and Keiji Ashizawa Design added pieces to an existing set of furniture the architects recently designed for the brand.

At the centre of the room is one new piece – a gridded timber bookshelf that has been dressed with books from local independent book store Cinnober.

At the rear of the gallery, is an office-style area including a stained oak desk by Keiji Ashizawa Design, finished with a black-tinted glass countertop, which has also been created for the launch.

Some of the pieces that Norm Architects completed last year are arranged at one end of Kinfolk Gallery's main room to form a dining area in the exhibition. These include a "paper-thin" oak table and chairs with upholstered Kvadrat seat cushions.

Adjacent lies a stone-topped coffee table and a pale grey sofa, also launched in 2018. It perches on a fluffy cream Kvadrat rug to form a sitting area.

"We wanted to illustrate how big an effect tailor-made furniture can have on the overall experience of a space," explained Norm Architects.

"There are a million things that can distract us in our day-to-day lives, and finding or creating those sanctuaries is therefore vital for our wellbeing; spaces and places that provide the setting for relaxation, awareness and connectedness."

Surrounding the items in the Karimoku Case Study collection in the gallery are bespoke storage boxes by August Sangren and a black lounge chair by Sørensen Leather serve as decor.

Dotted across the mottled, stone-coloured walls are a selection of woven artworks by Danish designer Sara Martinsen. Earthy vases by local ceramist Turi Heisselberg Pedersen have also been used to dress the space, filled with various wildflowers provided by Tableau.

"The exhibition and collection embody a sense of calm; a soft, warm and minimal space composed of materials, designs and aesthetics that all elevate one another," explained Karimoku.

Karimoku Case Study intends to extend its range by inviting architects from across the globe to produce a collection of furnishings based on a particular setting.

The brand takes its name from the Case Study Houses, an experimental programme organised by American magazine Arts & Architecture between 1945 and 1966 that invited major architects of the time to create inexpensive residences for the housing boom that followed world war two.

Karimoku was originally founded in 1940 by Shohei Kato, who made timber parts out of a small shop in the city of Karina, Japan, before launching a wooden furniture line in the 1960s.

The company also has another sister brand named Karimoku New Standard, which has previously produced space-saving dining chairs.

3 Days of Design takes place annually in Copenhagen, showing off the best of Danish design. This year saw architects Bjarke Ingels and Simon Frommenwiler team up to create an installation that can be put together and dismantled like a puzzle to form a bright pink house.

Photography is by Monica Grue Steffensen.

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Every floor of this Tokyo house by Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design opens onto a garden or terrace.

Located in a quiet residential area, the three-storey House S has a dark, windowless street facade with a recessed porch and wooden front door.

Inside, a living and dining area spans the entire ground floor and opens out to a garden flanked by trees.

A winding staircase leads to the two upper storeys, where four bedrooms each have their own dressing rooms.

A grassy mound and pebble garden occupy the first floor balcony, while two separate doors on the second floor lead out to a large wooden deck and garden.

From here, an outdoor staircase ascends to another decked seating area that covers the roof.

Balconies and terraces seem to be a key feature in many of Keiji Ashizawa's projects - see our previous story about a renovated house with covered balconies and a new roof deck.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Keiji Ashizawa sent us the following text:

House S

House S is located in a quiet residential area in a center of Tokyo.

The site is of the house is a cul-de-sac, removed from the main thoroughfares, and was once a samurai residence, so their are old pine and zelkova trees in the area.

Such surroundings, even in the midst of the city, significantly impacted the design.

The house includes many gardens on each floor of the house, to bring the surrounding landscape into the house.

In the end, the house will be part of this larger landscape, and in the meantime the green surroundings will help with privacy.

The clients wanted to insure that they could enjoy this larger landscape, as well as the art and furnishings that they have collected.

We extensively discussed both their life style and a setting for these furnishings - and how to mold materials, light, air and space to fit this broader goal.

All materials, lighting and space are in constructed within the house to work with art and furniture, as well as function.

Details and colors are considered for these things. They should be silent, but should have an identity. Most of the design details were developed specifically for this house, with this overall purpose in mind, down to handles, steps and windows.

The structure is complex, but we tried not to make this visible. The space was considered first in terms of the light from the outside, the flow of air, and the planning of art. Enjoyable to see or feel each in the space, and on each level, showing four clear seasons with different light and feelings.

House-S, take client's name and site name as it was created out of the fusion of the the multitude of things that were important to the site and to the client, rather than for a single, simple theme.

Site: Tokyo
Architect: Keiji Ashizawa Design

Project architect: Keiji Ashizawa / Rie Honjo
Structural engineer: Akira Suzuki

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This renovation of a house in Tokyo by Keiji Ashizawa Design involved creating a courtyard through the upper storeys.

Called Skycourt, the project involved adding a new structure to the top of the existing two-storey building to create a third level and outdoor deck.

A double-height courtyard pierces the first and second floors, admitting light and linking the living and dining spaces to the outdoors.

The bedrooms and bathrooms on the ground floor are protected by a louvred fence, while an office and guest room are located in the basement.

Photographs are by Takumi Ota.

Here's some more information from Keiji Ashizawa Design:

SKYCOURT is an ambitious renovation project that involved transforming a Japan house into a modern home connected to the city and the sunlight. The house is located in a quiet residential area, a couple of blocks away from Tokyo's business district. The original house plan was a dated two storey house with cramped bedrooms, small windows with no indoor/outdoor flow.

The clients, a working couple with two children, wanted to maximize the living space, create a backyard with privacy and develop a structure flooded with light. As the original house was part of a set of twin houses, the clients also wanted to decorate the facade in order to severe the link with the sibling. These requirements demanded bold renovations.

Remodeling in Japan is a relatively recent phenomenon. The average life-span of a building is less than 20 years, even less for central Tokyo. Building authorities are very reluctant to allow any alterations in structure (in part due to Japan's earthquake standards) and are often only convinced after extensive negotiations and complete re-analysis of the structure.

Every successful renovation project requires the clients and architect to first recognize the positive characteristics of the existing space. In this case it was helpful that the clients lived in the old structure for one month to add their real life experiences to the design process.

Achieving the clients' goals within the constraints of the building required a number of key changes: A new tent structure was placed on the top of the building thereby creating a new third-storey with outside deck. Light was added in abundance by opening the south of the house and punching a courtyard out of the roof. To further capitalize on these changes, the order of the house was reversed so that the living, dining and kitchen were shifted to the upper floors thereby giving those areas access to even more light.

A serene family area was created on the first floor by placing the bedrooms and family bathroom on the first floor and connecting the master bedroom to a Japanese style garden. The privacy of the bedrooms and garden was further ensured by erecting a 2-storey louver fence on the south border. A quiet office and guest room were installed in the basement.

One of the key features of Sky Court is the melding of indoor and outdoor spaces. On the second floor the new internal courtyard serves as a separator between the kitchen and living room while ensuring visual connection from that floor to the roof-top terrace. Similarly, the lounge on the third floor connects to the outdoor deck and opens to the view of Tokyo's skyscrapers that dazzle at night.

Another important feature of the project is the creation of unusual volume. The hole punched through the roof creates a heart-like space in the center of the house that opens to the sky. The new top floor (where the airconditioning units used to be) was one of the few places where old space did not have to be recycled and, as a result, the angular roof cap is juxtaposed against the existing straight walls.

In Tokyo, where space is at a premium, clients may need to accept a more vertical way of living, spreading over three or sometimes four stories. At the same time, the challenge to create great architecture requires developing new ways to completely utilize vertical spaces. When you also add the restraints of a renovation project to these existing hurdles, both sides need to be innovative. In this case, this challenge merely ignited the fires of everyone involved resulting in the generation of passionate synergistic energy for the project.

After the completion of the renovation project we had the chance to visit the home a number of times and were struck by how the alterations matched the clients' lifestyle even more than anyone could have imagined. The house was lovingly given a name: The COURT that was created during the renovation bathes the home with soft light and allows its occupants to gaze at the SKY. The answer to the clients' demands, a light filled home where one can feel connected and yet away from the city, is the definition of SKY COURT.

SKYCOURT
2010
TOKYO
Design: Keiji Ashizawa Design
Keiji Ashizawa / Rie Honjo
Structure Engineer:ASA Akira Suzuki

See also:

.

Slybox by Keiji Ashizawa	House in Minamimachi 3 by Suppose Design Office	More architecture stories

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These wooden drawers on a light metal frame are by Tokyo designer Keiji Ashizawa.

Called Slybox, the piece of storage has five draws of decreasing size.

Each has grooves in the sides, which slot onto the frame made of bent steen rods.

"This drawer uses the box which have simple detail as possible in minimum structure," says Ashizawa.

Photographs are by Yosuke Owashi.

Design: Keiji Ashizawa

Develop：Tansei

Size: H570 W950 D430

See also:

.

Stack by Shay Alkalay	Moving Mondrian by Vladimír Ambroz	Die Drei by Martha Schwindling

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