Tongu Saryo 建筑改造丨日本滋贺丨Tadashi Hirai Design Studio

Architect：Tadashi Hirai Design Studio

Location：Japan, Shiga, Koka, 土山町頓宮267; | ;View Map

Project Year：2023

Category：Shops;Restaurants

Background

This is a project to renovate part of the building of Maruyasu Chagyo, a tea wholesaler for more than 150 years in Tsuchiyama, which prospered as a post town on the Tokaido Highway, facing the Suzuka Pass, as a tea dormitory and a roasting house.

The project started with the aim of creating a “place” where people can casually enjoy tea and communicate the appeal of Japanese tea for the sustainable development of tea culture and the local tea industry in the midst of declining household consumption of Japanese tea.

Themes

We aimed to create a state of harmony between the time-honored and the new, a state of nostalgia with a sense of novelty, so that local residents who used to use Japanese tea on a daily basis would feel at ease, while at the same time being conscious of the segment of the population that was unfamiliar with Japanese tea.

Specifics

When we saw a large number of tea boxes and colanders that had outlived their usefulness piled up in a factory on the site, we felt that it was important, above all, to remove the dust from these items and bring them back into the light. In utilizing the existing interior and objects, we have created a gradation of modifications. For example, the lattice ceiling that was a distinctive feature of the old store was partially removed and extended to fit the new plan, the sunken hearth was relocated as is while the benches around it were abstracted, colanders were simply stacked with stoppers, mirrors and shelves were slightly modified, and tea boxes were combined with steel to create a sense of floating. The tea box was combined with steel to create a floating effect, and the board was reconstituted as a table. Through such manipulations, I am trying to connect the landscape that once existed in this place with the present.

Arrangement

The first floor, which originally housed a storefront, workshop, and office, has been rearranged to retain these functions while adding a new dining and roasting area. In anticipation of future expansion of the store, we created an L-shaped main flow line from the storefront to the rear of the site, and organized each function along this line.

The two sides of the L-shape are used for selling goods and eating and drinking respectively, and at the nexus of the two sides, the sunken hearth that had been used for many years was relocated.

Before the renovation, someone was always relaxing there, a scene that is unique to a store on a street. We hope that the next generation of tea culture will be nurtured around the sunken hearth, which has been relocated to the cornerstone of the space.

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