Keisuke Hatakenaka Architects Studio

The owner, a phytotherapist, opened this café with the theme of a retreat (a temporary break from everyday life to heal one's fatigue.) Part of the owner's 20-year-old house, built by a prefabricated housing manufacturer in a typical suburban residential area, was renovated into a café.

Since this café was a start-up, we decided to minimize the renovation work and keep costs as low as possible. In addition to the necessary equipment installation for opening the café, we only added a counter, lighting, and curtains to create a slightly isolated space from everyday life.

We positively accepted the aged wallpaper and decorative moldings and carefully adjusted wood finishes to harmonize with them. Also, since the existing antique-style furnishings featured decorative brass fittings, we naturally chose brass as the key color.
For the washbasin, we opted for a relatively large utility sink to hide the traces of the plumbing work, resulting in a clinic-like visual effect.
We chose a faucet handle and sink with a nostalgic feel for the counter and carefully installed and positioned them to create an adorable appearance.
The existing shoji screens, somewhat out of place in the Western-style interior, were re-purposed as interior signs by removing the shoji paper and partially replacing it with acrylic plates.

We created a space that combines a sense of warmth with an extraordinary feeling by combining the layers of the house, with its history of over 20 years, with new layers of healing.