Wa Shop


60 m2 renovation - Akasaka, Tokyo 2014
Mizuzu Yoshikawa, Joris Berkhout, Koen Klinkers, Will Galloway, Nicolai Becker, Ana Ilic

A boarding house built during the post-war reconstruction of Tokyo sits in the middle of a group of mega developments in Akasaka. Literally in the center of the city, the fact of its existence is more remarkable because it is within easy walking distance of the National Legislature and part of a gentrifying area with a strong nightlife and street-level culture. The house will be torn down and redeveloped in the near future, but until that time it hosts a shop on the ground floor and an office on the second.

With such an uncertain future we chose to add only structural reinforcement, a simple storage wall and a floating table to make way for a shop selling Japanese traditional goods with a modern twist. The table hangs on existing columns that once formed closets, bedrooms and kitchens, and is made perfectly level with a layer of white tinged acrylic resin. The storage wall holds two wooden dressers found in the demolition process, and otherwise is made from white drawers set in a minimal wooden frame. The ground is filled with leveling concrete to overcome a noticeable (but safe) slope in the settled house. The walls and ceiling are mostly left untouched, bceoming a well aged background for the goods on display. Taken together the old house shows its age but is updated with simple additions, not unlike the glasses and dishes the Wa Shop has gathered for its customers.