Complex Facility [Minagawa Village]

Outline* The shown information is the one as of the awarded date and might has been changed.

Outline: A Nagaya in Omotesando was revitalized into the complex of houses, cafe, common space and garden. We inhabits and manages here as a place changing on. We improved the value of real estate by complying with current laws, making seismic reinforcement and heat insulation repairs, and getting inspection certificates, which conversely took over the original layout and also the owner's memory.
Producer: Client: Daiichi Co., Ltd./ Saisei consulting: Saiseikenchiku Laboratory Co., Ltd./ Business consulting: TOKYU CORPORATION
Director: Saiseikenchiku Laboratory Co., Ltd.
Designer: Toyoaki Kamimoto + Saiseikenchiku Laboratory Co., Ltd./ Structure: A. S. Associates/ Environment: Ecological Design Thinktank./ Lighting: SIRIUS LIGHTING OFFICE/ Exterior construction: Maruki; 再生建築研究所代表取締役神本豊秋
More information: https://www.instagram.com/minagawa.v/
Already in service/use: 2018/6/1

Evaluation

This deserves appreciation just by reviving a 60-year-old wooden building which had become an illegally constructed structure because of recurring extensions and reconstructions. However, what amazed us most is the multifactorial and multi-methodical way this building was reconstructed. It is surprising that this building eventually obtained a construction permit after all these works including floor reduction, partial reconstruction, and building relocation to reorganize the entire site. The space created there has special esthetics backed by the depth and layers that can never be produced by newly built structures. There is a model attitude, technique, and drive in this building that Japanese society should emulate, instead of the past attitude driven just by economic logic that tend to choose to build a new structure just because it is cheaper.