White-painted walls and plywood panels contrast with the existing wooden interior of this vintage clothing store in Saitama city, which was recently renovated by local designer Manabu Okano (+ slideshow).

When designing the Bankara Vintage Store, Okano aimed to update the interior of the building while respecting its original wooden features.

Panels of plywood and white-painted plasterboard were fixed to the existing timber structure. An opening between the two floors was created, allowing daylight to come in through windows on the upper level.

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"I wanted to embellish the positive aspect of a wooden living house from the 1940s and combine the wooden construction with the atmosphere of the vintage clothing to create a unique space," said the designer.
"I aimed to make a space featuring the charm of the ordinary by incorporating the element of the flow of time into the interior," he added.

Trees were planted throughout the store, including a three-metre-high maple in the centre that reaches up to the level above.

Foliage is often used as a design feature in Japan, where examples include a fashion showroom with indoor rockeries in Kobe, and a cafe with a small tree growing inside it.

The store, which was originally used as a house, has a street on its south side and a garden on the north face.

A number of openings at ground level provide the interior ...