Kawate by Keitaro Muto Architects

A cantilevered storey projects from the side of this house in Gifu, Japan, to create a sheltered alcove on the edge of the garden (+ slideshow).

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Keitaro Muto Architects designed the family home for a 171 square metre plot in a residential neighbourhood of the city.

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The cantilevered section is raised 1.4 metres above the ground, providing a sheltered space where the family’s children can play and from which a hammock has been slung.

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A staircase leads from a paved parking area into an entrance hall in the cantilevered space, which also houses the master bedroom.

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The floating theme continues inside the house, where a staircase with horizontal wooden treads that seems to hover in mid air descends into the open-plan kitchen and living space.

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A flight of perforated metal stairs leads from the entrance to the upper storey, which houses two bedrooms, a toilet and a walk-in closet.

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The garden is visible through windows below the level of the cantilever, while a void extends the living space to the height of the second storey.

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Keitaro Muto Architects previously designed a house in Japan with outward-sloping walls covered in gravel.

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We recently published a house in Pittsburgh, USA, with a 16 metre cantilever over the roof of a glass factory, and a wooden house in Japan with a tree growing through a hole in its cantilevered top floor.

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Other Japanese houses we’ve featured recently include one with a floating staircase incorporating built-in wooden furniture and another shaped like a fairytale tower with five different staircases connecting its two floors.

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See more cantilevers »
See more Japanese houses »

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Photography is by Apertozero.

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Ground floor plan – click for larger image
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First floor plan – click for larger image
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Section

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Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

A steel screen zigzags in front of a shampoo area at this dimly lit beauty salon in Gifu, Japan, by architect Hiroyuki Miyake.

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

Paint applied to the surface of this two-millimetre-thick screen gives it a graduated surface that becomes more and more reflective nearer to the Japanese oak floor.

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

A missing fold at the centre of the zigzag provides an entrance.

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

Three chairs are positioned opposite in front of square mirrors, while a square window provides a view into a storage closet at the back.

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

See more stories about salons and spas in our dedicated category.

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

Photography is by Rikoh Adachi.

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

Here’s some more explanation from Hiroyuki Miyake:


Beauty salon TROOVE by Hiroyuki Miyake

This beauty salon is located in Gifu, Japan, and is designed by Japanese designer Hiroyuki Miyake.

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

This salon is run by the one stylist. In order that the stylist face each client thoroughly and create beauty. A sacred and pure atmosphere was emphasised by concise composition and light and darkness.

 

Stand lights [AKARI] were designed by ISAMU NOGUCHI in the 80s. They are also manufactured in Gifu, Japan.

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

The space constituted by concrete and the Japanese oak exists as a background with depth.

The partition divides a shampoo booth is inspired by japanese traditional folding screen. It is made from 2mm thick galvanised iron, and the lower part is reflecting the wooden floor by processed gradation paint. It stands like it floats.

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

Although the screen seems to be one apparently, in fact, there is a passage in the middle.

All openings of a wall are designed by the board material of 150-mm width a module.

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

Light and darkness emphasise the meaning of a place without explanation.

The font was designed by inserting the Chinese character means “ONE” in “TIMES font”.

Troove Beauty Salon by Hiroyuki Miyake

After the Tohoku Earthquake in last year, we the Japanese have been reconsidering strongly about our country and ourselves as japanese. By the accident of nuclear power plants, power saving was obliged and many lighting of the town was turned off. Although we felt negatively about darkness at first, we noticed it was enough to live. Rather, former was too bright. Originally we the Japanese accepted shades, and while they live, they have discovered beauty and art. Because this condition, we gaze at Japanese traditional culture again and evolve it, open up a new era.