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| "SoCal Heatwave": photography, digital. |
2GN2S
Hasamiyaki Pottery Brand Maruhiro Renovated an 86-Year Old Townhouse as a New Office
All photos by Kenta Hasegawa
Established in 1957 in Saga prefecture, Maruhiro is a family-owned business that produces hasamiyaki ceramics. Six years since the renovation of their flagship store,
the company has embarked on a new initiative to help cultivate a sense
of community in their town. They renovated an 86-year old
Japanese-style townhouse to function as office, showroom, community
kitchen and artist residency space.
The stunning renovation — the work of architect Daisuke Motogi (previously) — is being called Ouchi, a Japanese colloquial term for home. Due to the global pandemic, original plans were scaled back, which actually resulted in more of the original details of the townhouse being preserved.
The spectacular entranceway leads to an office space that was originally a tatami mat room. The floor was removed to create a sunken room that functions better as an office as it raised the ceiling height and allowed for direct views into the garden. The magnificent stone plinth foundation that appeared when the floor was lifted out, was also preserved. One characteristic of Japanese townhouses is that they’ve been originally designed for ongoing renovation and expansion. “This Japanese house was no exception,” says the architect, who sees infinite possibility in Japan’s existing stock of vacant housing, explaining that “by slightly changing its relationship, the original meaning can be altered.”
On the second floor, the tatami mats were also removed and replaced with wooden boards to create a residence space for artists. Ouchi in its entirety is part of a larger community park called Hiroppa that is being planned by the pottery company. It’s scheduled to open in September of 2021.
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| Yucatan Jay |
Thanks for coming by today.
4 comments:
You can literally feel the heat in this picture. You know here we also have the first heatwave of this year with temperatures of 90 degrees which is rather hot for us.
Not only I but also my husband enjoyed your report about the newly renovated Townhouse. It's wonderful. Also the ceramics are fantastic. Maybe I already told once that I could spend all my money for ceramics.
Thanks for today's wonderful and interesting blog!
Thank you, Elenor. Is it summer in Austria, too? Our problem here, is that we have almost no rain all year and everything is so dry. And then we have the Santa Ana winds which often cause fire, and once they get started they are hard and dangerous for the firemen to put out.
I also love Architecture, so every so often I feature some. As for the ceramics, I used to have my own pottery 1975-1979. I'll see if Ican find a link to the blog about it?
Your piece radiates the heat you are experiencing. We get that heat this weekend!
Thank you, John.I hope you stay cool midst the heat?
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