In this renovation project we have refurbished an apartment block that was built in the post war period of high economic growth in Japan. The building was originally designed to provide 30 residential rooms using a housing module called ‘nLDK’, an efficient system widely used in Japan. We attempted to redesign this standardized series of spaces to provide accommodation suitable for a complexity of contemporary lifestyles. The design principle we followed here was redesigning the space only by removing elements without adding, and improvising the layout of each of the apartments on site, without having drawn their plans in advance.

Architect Jo Nagasaka was born in Osaka. After graduating from the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Fine Arts of Tokyo University of the Arts, he established “Schemata Architects” in 1998. In 2007, he started “HAPPA” sharing a gallery, shop and other facilities. Among his works are “Sayama Flat”, “63.02°”, “PACO”, “House in Okusawa”, “Aesop Aoyama/Ginza”, “MR_DESIGN OFFICE”, “LLOVE”, “HANARE”, “Today’s Special Jiyugaoka/Hikarie” and “Hue plus”.