Revitalization of Prewar Rental Kyoto Townhouses | Row Houses on Showa Alley|Yoshihiro Yamamoto Architects Associates
Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City. A narrow lane one block off National Route 1 contains a dense cluster of prewar nagaya (traditional row houses). While retaining the nostalgic traces of Showa-era alleys, these houses face contemporary challenges such as vacancy, structural deterioration, privacy intrusions from tourism, and conversion to short-term rentals or guest houses. At the request of the landlord, one corner of this row was renovated into rental housing targeted at families with children and elderly tenants. Although the building suffered significant damage after several years of neglect, removal of piecemeal interventions—vinyl wallpaper, aluminum sashes, and a system kitchen—revealed the delicate structural details, refined ornamentation, and the pleasant continuity between exterior and interior characteristic of Kyoto machiya. The ground floor was reconfigured around a living room created by connecting two former tatami rooms, allowing integrated use with a mise-no-ma (shop-facing room) surrounding a tsubo-niwa (small courtyard) and with the kitchen across via sliding fittings. The layout also accommodates a bathroom, washroom, laundry machine and refrigerator within the limited footprint. Flooring is 30 mm thick cedar planks, a low-cost choice that improves insulation; walls were repaired with plaster and plywood; ceilings were stripped of deteriorated finishes and left with the rough boards of the second-floor decking. The kitchen is a simple composition of stainless commercial kitchen units. The second floor received no plan changes but underwent targeted repairs; ceilings were converted to a cove (boat-bottom) profile after adding diaphragm reinforcement and insulation. By leveraging the existing grid plan, most joinery was relocated and reused as needed to minimize newly fabricated pieces. The renovation maximized use of Kyoto City subsidy programs to reduce initial costs.
Building Overview
Use: Nagaya (traditional row house)
Structure/Scale: Timber, 2-storey
Site area: 14 tsubo (45 m²)
Area used for unit-price calculation: 19 tsubo (63 m²)
Design supervision: Yoshihiro Yamamoto [YYAA]
Construction: Jonan-gumi
Real estate consulting: Kyoto R Real Estate
Photography: Yohei Sasakura [Sasa no Kurasha]
Kyoto-style seismic retrofit support program utilizing local craftsmen's expertise [City of Kyoto]
Subsidy for vacant-house utilization and circulation support [City of Kyoto]
Excellence Award, Housing Division, 36th Housing Renovation Competition
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