Project Brief

Fewer than 40,000 machiya remain in Kyoto, and the number decreases each year. This 1929 machiya in Kyoto's Higashiyama district, acquired by private owners from California and returned to full residential use through a year-long renovation. Working with Kyoto-based designer Deha Masahiro (de LLC) and contractor Takayuki Minaguchi (51Action), the project removed post-war dropped ceilings to reveal original timber beams and double-height proportions, laid a new concrete foundation with seismic reinforcement, and introduced modern interventions — sumi-pigmented plaster, a stainless steel and cypress kitchen, and Oribe-inspired green tile — while preserving the material language of the original structure.