Architecture studio NYAWA has restored and updated a traditional timber home in Toyama, Japan, to create a pared-back holiday home where visitors can "feel the passage of time".
The home's Tokyo-based owner tasked the studio with creating a holiday rental that would "incorporate the local climate and culture", while also updating its structure to be earthquake resilient.
Typical to many historical dwellings in the region, the building is organised around a large gathering space known as a hiroma, wrapped by sliding doors that allow it to be open to a covered porch or engawa.
Shoji screens are used to shift levels of light and privacy
Throughout the ground floor, the original wooden structure, including decorative carvings, has been restored and reinforced, with the addition of bench-like seating and glass partitions to maximise views and sight-lines. A variety of floor finishes demarcate different areas in this open space, with wood and tatami floors in the seating areas, concrete in the kitchen space and areas of pebbles in between.
Looking to blend these more traditional spaces with modern amenities, the upper-storey bedrooms have been given new walls, floors and ceilings, painted white with built-in storage.
The traditional home was updated to include a guest house
"Retaining and showing the old wooden structure, including the roofing system, gives a sense of the long passage of time in this house," NYAWA founder Yoh Miyashita told Dezeen.
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