Uzura

Sharpening

Uzura

Completion : 04.2023
Location : Tokyo Japan
Use : Restaurant
Client : BEATUS.inc
Photo : Tomoki Hirokawa

This is a brief description of a plan to relocate a whale meat restaurant which was first founded in 1973. The plan is to renovate a small 37-year-old steel-framed two-story house located in a residential area only a few minute’s walk from Shirokane-Takanawa Station, and the house was transformed into a restaurant.

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

During the renovation, a 3 meter high wall with mortar finish was built along the boundary with the road to help isolate the building from the surrounding area. Along the center of the wall surface a wood-framed sign was mounted which was an heirloom from the former location. The space in front of the building that was once a parking area is separated from it by the wall and is now a walkway to the entrance and tables. Inside the restaurant, the first floor has a counter with some seats and a kitchen and the second floor has tables and private rooms.

Going inside the restaurant through an approach with narrow stairs takes you through a space completely different from that in the former small house. The first floor was made to look wider within the limited space of the restaurant by way of pre-existing beams, braces and ALC (autoclaved aerated concrete) slabs appearing throughout the building. From the entrance where the designer intentionally left pre-existing brick tiles on the earthen floor, you can see through the brace, the seats at the counter with its laminated plywood and oakwood countertop mounted over a concrete block. On the ceiling, backlighting is installed along the ceiling brace.

The wall on the staircase is painted in salmon pink to express a sense of fun and attract the eye. On the second floor where the ceiling covers the insulation material, there are multiple elements that prevent the space from looking too serious such as the contrast from alternating mortar floor and terrazzo tiles, light-and-dark gray coatings, painting the area in salmon pink, and a brace from which you can look inside. A brace is also just barely visible through the frosted glass partition in the private room.

The combination of subdued gray floor, wall and ceiling with vermilion (bright red) anti-rust coating and oak wood creates an inner space of splendor and fine taste.

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