Hasta La Ideas

This curvy timber deck belongs to a dorm for restaurant staff completed by Japanese designer Koichi Futatsumata of Case-Real in an abandoned house.

Located on Teshima Island, Japan, White Dormitory provides accommodation for three employees of nearby restaurant Il Vento.

The building wraps around the decked courtyard, where glass doors lead into a shared lounge and kitchen with a pale wooden floor.

A strip of skylights brings natural light into this room, while rustic wooden beams brace the walls.

The three bedrooms are arranged along one side of the building and each have their own kitchen area.

We’ve featured a few interesting interiors by Case-Real in the past, including an office and showroom in a wooden hut and a boutique with two façades – see all the projects here.

Photography is by Hiroshi Mizusaki.

Here’s some more text from Koichi Futatsumata:

White Dormitory for Il Vento

A renovation project to convert an old vacant house into a dormitory in a village on Teshima, an island lying in the Seto Inland Sea. A dormitory for restaurant staff of Il Vento which was created as artwork of Tobias Rehberger for Setouchi International Art Festival 2010. The main focus for this project is how we make most of the vacant houses increasing by depopulation.

To insert new elements without disturbing the surrounding landscape of the village which remains unchanged from the old days, the existing exterior wall facing the lane was left untouched. Though deteriorated traditional Japanese style roof was replaced, the basic form and color of the original was adopted to the new one only using different materials, you hardly notice the change from the outside.

On the other hand, all the furnishings and functional features of dormitory as well as a courtyard are reconstructed using various white materials such as woods, stones, and plasters with different expressions and tones. In Japan, white is not only a symbol of new beginning, but the sacred color representing purity, innocence, and peace.

Interior space is comprised of three private rooms and a lounge, and a small courtyard set in the middle. The huge white terrace linked by lounge realizes the open space with sense of relief and freedom.

Contrasts between the inside and outside of the building, that is new and old, proposes to expand the possibilities of the existing architecture on the island and island itself.

Design: Koichi Futatsumata / Case-Real
Direction: Tsuyoshi Matsuzawa

Location: Teshima Kagawa, Japan
Type of Project : the conversion of old private house
Use: Dormitory
Period: Jan 2011 – Jul 2011
Structure: wood frame
Scale: 1 story
Site area: 127.9m2
Building area: 94.2m2