A renovation project of a room in a 30-year old apartment building in the Maruyama-cho area in Shibuya, Tokyo. This sordid district is known for its ‘love hotel’ industry, a type of short-stay hotel for couples. From the existing interior space of the room, we selected certain elements to keep such as the outlet plate, ceiling and windows to connect the room to its surrounding scenery in alternative ways. We also strove here to radically transform the space without changing the structure and the basic layout of the interior space.

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”.