Meguro Flat

55 m2 renovation - Meguro, Tokyo
Will Galloway, Koen Klinkers, Yuka Takeuchi

In Tokyo, few buildings are old. War, fire, and earthquakes destroyed or damaged many of the truly aged buildings, and scrap and build culture removed almost everything else more than thirty years old. But in a mega-city of nearly 38 million people simple mathematics and chance history means there is a certain amount of older stock left over. This project is a renovation in one of those buildings.

Located in Meguro in central Tokyo, the original design hints at a period of significant transformation in Tokyo’s urban history, fitting three traditional Japanese rooms into a surprisingly small living area lifted 9 stories above the ground. This layout was common for the time, and mimicked the farmhouses that its earliest residents would have grown up with - a thoughtful design decision that helped acclimate the rapidly urbanizing population as it moved from the farm to the city. Over the years the apartment was refitted to match western standards, with a few small rooms spreading from a central corridor. The changes made the cramped conditions worse when the row of Tatami matted rooms (connected with sliding doors) was traded for a series of closed spaces.

Our revision to the home cleared the unit to its skeleton and is limited to the addition of super-furniture to create rooms. A washroom and bath sit inside large eccentric boxes, and appliances sit in their own containers, or in the case of the fridge stand next to a simple wall fragment. Finally, harkening back to the original plan, sliding doors open and subdivide the space so the unit can work as a single open room or be closed into bedrooms as needed. Storage is moved to a single wall along the length of the home, accessed through a continuous curtain.