Renovation of an Urban Residence Retaining a Kura | Abeno Residence|Yoshihiro Yamamoto Architects Associates
Abeno, extending south of Tennoji Station, once featured a picturesque park on the eastern slope of Tengachaya Station where teahouses and tea rooms clustered around a pond from the Meiji period through the prewar era. Today little of that former landscape remains; apartments and houses press densely along the gentle hilltop undulations. At the end of one such lane, a large garden and residence had been miraculously preserved and were entrusted to a family committed to carrying the place into the next generation. The compound consisted of several volumes, and many traces remained of careful construction using valuable materials: complex irimoya roof frameworks, large-section drum beams, and thick solid-wood floorboards. However, multiple large-scale renovations had at times joined the main house and the kura into a single ridge and had expanded reception rooms and detached annexes in ways that created numerous problems. In the design we sought a resolution in which the traditional fittings of the Japanese rooms and the strength and generosity of the old solid timbers and structural members could coexist and resonate with contemporary living standards and performance without conflict. A high-ceilinged LDK was placed near the center of the main house, with the entrance and wet areas arranged to flank it, while several interior–exterior circulation loops were introduced to create smooth movement patterns. The entrance platform (shikidai) and floorboards were carefully removed, planed, and repurposed for the stair and joinery. Shoji screens and framed doors were largely repaired, reconfigured, and reused. Additions and detached annexes that had produced an incoherent patchwork of interventions were demolished, and waterproofing, structural load capacity, and daylighting were rationalized to a coherent, no‑strain condition.
Building Overview
Location | Abeno Ward, Osaka City Family | Couple + 1 child + small pet Structure/Scale | Timber, 2 stories Use | Detached single-family house Site area | 152 tsubo [503 m2] Total floor area | 71 tsubo [237 m2] Construction floor area | 88 tsubo [292 m2]
Design & supervision | Yoshihiro Yamamoto, Minami Ohtake, Miyu Nakamura [YYAA] Construction | [Sunfield Architecture Workshop] Kitchen & furniture | [oguma] Garden | Takeo Matsushita [soji] Curtains | [jyu+] House nameplate fittings | [bowlpond]
Seismic assessment and retrofit subsidy project / [Osaka City] Advanced Window Renovation 2024 project / [Ministry of the Environment] Child‑rearing Eco Home Support project / [Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism]
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