Nested in the Japanese city of Okayama once stood an old furniture factory which has been converted into a Cedar-and-steel clad home for a carpenter and his family.
Photography by Kei Sugino
The two-storey gabled build was designed by the Australian architecture company, TT Architects, and once housed raw materials for a made-to-order furniture company.
Lengths of Japanese Cypress and Oregon Pine were used as structural reinforcement for the building’s frame, while Oak was used for the doors and floors.
Photography by Kei Sugino
In the upper floor, the house was transformed into a living space with a balcony while the ground floor became a home office and a carpentry workshop.
Photography by Kei Sugino
A mobile crane which was once attached to the gabled-ceiling for lifting furniture has been stripped away along with previous extensions to create clean and sleek lines in the house. Instead, the upper portion is cladded with sheets of ribbed grey steel and the lower with Cedar weatherboards.
“We obtained house-shaped lines by removing excessive volumes that had been made into extensions over the years,” said the architects.
Photography by Kei Sugino
Inside the 250-square-metre building, original timber pillars and steel beams were kept whilst Cedar boards now line the ceiling.
“The client can enjoy two different materials, wood and steel, in one living room,” said the architects.
Photography by Kei Sugino
Up on the first floor, three children’s bedrooms and a master bedroom fill the space along with a central living space and kitchen.
Exposed timber and steel structure were left exposed on the while walls that section off the bedrooms from the living space, which stop short of the pitched ceiling.
Photography by Kei Sugino
A loft was added above the children’s room and was accessible from the living room.
On the ground floor, a Japanese room, used by the wife to host kimono-wearing classes, joins the carpeter’s workshop.
Source: Dezeen
