ROOVICE restores spatial harmony in japanese home using traditional architecture methods

roovice renovates hakuraku house in japan

Japanese studio ROOVICE has recently given a new life to Hakuraku House, a 90-year-old wooden home in Yokohama, Japan, using traditional Japanese architecture methods. Preserving the historic, faded wood and rusty steel of façade and restoring the primitive wooden structure, from the outside Hakuraku House seems frozen in time. Within, the architects redesign the internal spatial layout to inject a sense of harmony. Adopting the traditional approach of Kakekae, Hakuraku House reveals a refreshed, spacious character bounded in the bright interior flooded with generous natural light.

all images by Akira Nakamura

restoring a harmonious spatial layout

The original wooden structure was built during the 1930s as a symmetrical two-apartments dwelling. Since then, it has undergone several extensions and additions, revealing an incoherent spatial layout with a tangled flow of use. A mid-nineteenth century contribution of the Bunkai dekiru method which sees the dismantling and reconstruction of the steep staircase, is enhanced by ROOVICE to open up the home. Presented with the challenge of restoring a sense of harmony to the space, ROOVICE redesigns the layout’s extensions in a more ordered manner.

To achieve this, the designers make use of the traditional Japanese architecture approach of Kakekae (‘substitute’, ‘replacement’) – the approach of altering existing elements to enhance the space. To resolve the awkward geometry of the original staircase which shaped the spaces on the first and second floor, the newly added stairs were shifted to restore symmetrical circulation and grant more generous space to the kitchen. The void left in the slab from the rearrangement was transformed into a double height connecting the kitchen with the vanity unit and bathroom on the top storey, while the lower bathroom moved from the squeezed spot under the stairwell to the annexe room. The steep original staircase leads to the newly opened second floor, where ROOVICE removes the division walls to generate an open space with generous natural light granted by the improved windows.  

The main task during renovations of old buildings in Japan, wooden houses in particular, is often embodied by the seismic retrofitting meant to update obsolete structures. To increase the strength of edifices during an earthquake, the structure must be bonded together. With Hakuraku House, the retrofitting is achieved by the attachment of dampers to each element, which bond all of the structural elements together and keeps the layout open and flexible as it doesn’t require new columns or beam installation.

view of one of the two entrances, seen from the inside

the black dampers bond all the structural elements together

improved windows, big openings and white walls provide plenty of natural light

ROOVICE retains the original internal divisions

the contrast between the white walls and the dark structure transmits a calm and secure ambience

the steep original staircase leads to the newly opened second floor

Hakuraku House’s faded exterior seems frozen in time

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the new kitchen benefits from the removal of the staircase for a more generous space

project info:

name: Hakuraku House
architects: ROOVICE

location: Yokoham, Japan

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edited by: ravail khan | designboom