Japanese architecture firm Akio Kamiya Architect & Associates have just completed the ‘House in Tanimannari’, a two-part renovation project for a young couple in Okayama, Japan consisting of a total floor area of 4,068 square feet (378 square meters). The property consists of a two-storey detached room and a free-standing greenhouse; the design maintains a careful balance between the old and the new, being sensitive to the pre-existing main building while injecting a modern character through materiality and form.

Located west of the main house beyond a parallel-running retaining wall, the 344 square foot greenhouse provides a place to cultivate local Muscat grapes. The simple, square-shaped plan is pulled up to a symmetrically-sloping roof form that molds the space within into a triangular volume. Completely transparent save for the stacked stone base, the atmosphere of the interior shifts according to the trajectory of the day; natural daylight filters in through the grapevines and surrounding trees, resulting in a porously shaded space. Newly paved with white brick, the greenhouse retains thermal heat during the winter.

A former annex that housed two Japanese-style rooms and a small storeroom, the detached room of 968 square feet utilizes the original structure of the building, maintaining the rich identity of the exterior intact. The ground level accommodates an open dining and living space that features a kitchen at the center of its layout. A staircase at the back leads up to a bedroom that overlooks the area below through a set of sliding screens. Via

Visit the website of Akio Kamiya Architect & Associates here.