Japanese-Australian architectural firm atelier Luke reimagines this Kyoto row house built in the 1950s, stripping it down to the bare essentials and turning it into a solemn interplay of light and shadow.
Terrace House near Demachinayagi is tucked into a narrow street on the suburbs of Kyoto. Originally a dilapidated property, the firm hired local artisans to incorporate native architectural design elements into a modern look, and breathe new life into the house. Yoshida cedar from nearby Nara was used to define two interior ‘boxes’ with a bare space in the middle featuring blackened timber beams — a lofty, shadowy ‘skeleton’ from which the house comes to life.
The front ‘box’ contains the bathroom and kitchen, while a ladder leads to the sleeping loft. The rear box connects to the outside with sliding doors that allow the house to open up completely to the outside, through a small internal garden. The middle section provides a stark contrast to the organic elements of the two boxes, making the limited floor space seem larger and more expressive visually.
With a simplified palette, infusion of native materials, and a masterful maximization of space, the house is seemingly lost in time, an old architectural relic that belongs to modern times.
Photography © Yohei Sasakura for atelier Luke