The apartment that the client purchased for his home is located near the railroad tracks, a few minutes walk from a small railway station. The vicinity is a quiet uptown residential area, with a laid-back atmosphere that emanates from the trains running through houses, the people walking in the neighborhood, and even the residents coming in and out of the apartment.

We created strip-shaped “shores” on both sides of windows; railroad-side and hallway of apartment-side that face this slow laid-back flow.

The strip-shaped “shores” have the function of connecting the exterior and interior by tile floor, inner balcony, and a bike rack, and at the same time they serve as buffer zone to place storages and indoor plants. These “shores” set the tone of the bedroom, living and dining room to be a cozy place.

While the advantage of the client’s apartment is a wide frontage with many windows, initial layout made it impossible to fully enjoy the light and wide view due to the space being segmented by too many rooms. We decided to remove the walls to intake the light and view in an open space where the wind could pass through the windows. The bathroom was placed in the center of the apartment as detached room, and the bedroom can be closed with movable partitions to secure privacy.

The wood flooring is chosen for living/ dining room and bedroom for barefoot comfort, and the walls and ceilings are mostly white to give neutral finish. The “Shores” floors are either tiles or carpet depending on its function, and the walls and ceiling are finished in two colors. One is a red brown sampled from the surrounding environment seen outside the railroad side of the window, and the other is a moss green sampled from a café run by the client that is within one-minute access from the door of the apartment.

The client’s café is a quiet and calm space with a symbolic use of moss green. As cakes served in the café are baked by the client, it is very convenient that they can try new recipes for café at home. The client has a plan to start baking classes for café’s regulars at home. If the apartment expects mutual visitors, it made more sense to share the symbolic colors with the café.

For this reason, the kitchen island countertop is placed in front of the entrance on the hallway side so that it catches attention of the visitors when they open the door. The square shape of the countertop provides good accessibility, storage space and workability.

The railroad side of the “Shore” has a workspace by the window that overlooks the clouds and trains passing by. The comfort brought by the changing scenery is different from that of the quiet and calm café, which may create stimulating atmosphere to concentrate on office works.

By extracting various elements from the atmosphere of the town and the conditions of proximity to work and residence, and applying them to the interior of the residence through renovation, This is an attempt to create a compact yet comfortable and open living space by interpreting the various elements extracted from the conditions such as neighborhood, proximity to work, and nature of the work.

– Akio Nakasa –