Table Hat is an extension of a two-story wooden house designed by Hiroyuki Shinozaki Architects on a peaceful residential street in Odawara city, Kanagawa, Japan. The extended part was planned for a small cafe of 532 square feet and residence. The basic structure is built up with ten wooden big-size tables with 42mm-thick flames and 9mm-thick plywood top panel. Each of them with different sizes and heights create various spaces below with suitable furniture, lighting and plants. A connection of ten tables looks like they are being floated on a 250mm-thick concrete slab which stands 1.8 meters higher from the foundation around the residence.

There are tables, chairs and roof which covers them and this place becomes cafe when a freshly poured cup of coffee comes. This primitive scene is considered as a structure for making this architecture. Each space offers a place for reading, gathering, having a view of trees outside and so on. Taking small scales of furniture in cafe as foot in the door for planning, all the places including boundary of inside and outside are gradually separated but are connected and shares this place at the same time. It is a cafe like a park in a peaceful residential street where people chose a favorite place and take a cup of coffee for relaxing.

Photos: Kai Nakamura