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Iconic Japanese design retailer MUJI is back on the residential market with details of its new MUJI Base Kamogawa home renovation project for Airbnb. Located an hour and thirty minutes outside Tokyo in Chiba Prefecture, the new temporary stay inside the 100-year-old former Noda Printmaking... View full entry
Apparent Japanese architecture aficionado Kim Kardashian recently traveled to the country to meet with Pritzker winner Tadao Ando, according to an Instagram post made by the celebrity mogul Thursday. Ando is designing a private residence for Kardashian in the Palm Springs area, the details of... View full entry
Junya Ishigami + Associates has completed a residence and restaurant for a French restauranter in the city of Ube, Japan. Asked by the client for a space that "has to look as if it has been there and will continue to be there for the longest time," Ishigami responded with a cave-like structure... View full entry
A few months removed from their grand House of Music debut in Budapest, Sou Fujimoto Architects has just unveiled concept renderings and a project website of an undulating coastal resort design on Okinawa’s Ishigaki Island for the Japanese hospitality brand NOT A HOTEL. The circular... View full entry
My architectural hero is Lina Bo Bardi. She was an amazing person. She was connected to society, communities, and construction crews. And also the fact that she's originally Italian, and established an identity in a place different from her place of origin (Brazil), resonated for me coming from Japan and establishing my practice in the United States. Navigating that territory, not only being a woman, but being a migrant as well. — New Reader
A very nuanced interview with Toshiko Mori. "The former Chair of Harvard's graduate architecture program deems signature style irrelevant, favoring a versatile research-based approach. Beyond the load bearing structures of a building, Mori's examination of material matter excavates the... View full entry
At present, Pritzker Prize–winning architect Tadao Ando is building Kim’s Palm Springs home, which she describes as “concrete, gray-toned, and really zen,” while Kengo Kuma, who designed the National Stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as well as LVMH’s Japan headquarters, is creating a glass-and-wood lake house for her in an undisclosed location, where Kim travels every Fourth of July. — Vogue
The Palm Springs home and new Kuma design will offer some competition to the pricey portfolio her ex-husband has been building with his recent $57.3 million acquisition of an Ando-designed Malibu home that was custom-built for investment manager Richard Sachs in 2013. Tadao Ando Interview... View full entry
A vacant hotel that had been in operation for 300 years until its closure in 2008 has been resurrected by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Situated in the center of Maebashi, a city about two hours northwest of Tokyo, Shiroiya Hotel’s revamp is part of a wider rejuvenation of the city, a plan... View full entry
CASE-REAL has completed a new residence in Tokyo, Japan. The two-story wood-frame home sits in a residential sector in the city center and contrasts the surrounding structures with its metallic exterior, made of galvanized steel. From the street, the home displays a gridded system of the... View full entry
An undulating lobby ceiling that Isamu Noguchi sculpted in the 1940s has emerged at a U-Haul branch in St. Louis, two decades after it was hidden by partitions and dropped ceiling panels. Noguchi designed the feature, known as a lunar landscape, for the building’s original owner, the American Stove Company. — New York Times
The ceiling was discovered back in 2015 and immediately many began to advocate for its preservation. The New York Times reports David Conradsen, the St. Louis Museum of Art's decorative arts and design curator said that experts had contemplated removing the sculpture to transfer it to the... View full entry
The initial idea of residential construction firm Mitsubishi Estate Residence, the Cat Tower Mansion was realized by a team led by Japanese-based architect Akiko Ishimaru, who also happens to be a cat-lover. The multi-story structure is designed to exist within the interior of a home. The "ground... View full entry
Husband and wife duo, Takashi Yanai and Patti Rhee, both partners at EYRC, have unveiled their recently completed redesign of their family home, the Kingsland Residence. Takashi leads the residential studio at EYRC and Patti heads the commercial studio. The couple's home is located in Mar Vista... View full entry
Japanese-based firm Nendo has completed a novel three-story two-family home in Tokyo. With three generations of the same family sharing the space, the living quarters for the older couple is situated on the 1st floor, while the 2nd and 3rd levels house the younger couple and their child. ... View full entry
This Hyde + Hyde-designed home takes inspiration from its residents' Japanese culture. Called Utsuroi House, the dwelling captures an appreciation for timeless architecture through balance and geometric symmetry. 'Utsuroi' is a Japanese spatial concept meaning "a gradual and inevitable change... View full entry
Overlooking vast rice fields, scattered farmhouses, and mountains, sits a quaint wooden residence designed by Japan-based Motoki Ishikawa Architect & Associates Inc.. Located in Yokote, Japan, the design challenge came in addressing the area's dynamic climate where long winters invite heavy... View full entry
After announcing the launch of its Reserve Roastery in Tokyo back in 2016, Starbucks has now given a look inside the Kengo Kuma-designed space. The store is Starbucks’ fifth Reserve Roastery, and the second time that the concept has opened outside of North America, following the Milan location launched last year. — Hypebeast
The four-story coffee temple in Tokyo's Nakameguro neighborhood opened to the caffeine-deprived morning crowds at 7 a.m. today. "The Tokyo Roastery is the only Starbucks Roastery location designed in collaboration with a local architect from the ground up," explains the project description. Image... View full entry
