Artisan influence
Habitat Antique’s diminutive all-wood interior innovatively merges contemporary with Japanese heritage
By Vilma Barr
January 04, 2012
Photo courtesy of Tomohiro Sakashita
Located in a residential area of Osaka, Japan, Habitat Antique is a tiny 269-sq.-ft. shop selling hand-crafted items that are neither vintage nor old. “Antique,” as interpreted by this retailer, refers to a singular category of present-day, non-manufactured, handmade products. The criteria for their selection and resale are the owner’s evaluation that they will become increasingly appreciated over the years.
Just as works of art in a gallery are displayed to be appreciated for their creative inspiration, only one of each item at Habitat Antique is shown and offered for sale. “These are unique items with subtle variations and a special charm that the shop’s owner believes will grow in appeal as they age,” says architect Olivia Shih of Facet Studio, which has offices in Osaka and Sydney, Australia. “From here, we drew a parallel to timber as the building material. Within the same species, each tree is unique and records the passage of time in the form of its growth rings.”
Habitat Antique’s design is a continuation of a theme Shih and her partner, Yoshi Kashiwagi, refer to as an “ever-expanding system.” “We layered the timber sections in a way to express the growth rings to form a ‘pattern of time,’” she indicates. In contrast to the delicacy and scale of the merchandise, stacked pieces of cedar form pillars that unify the store’s interior and provide floor-to-ceiling display space. Construction cost of the shop was approximately $60,000.
Shelving that fits into slots between the wood blocks can be interchanged easily throughout the store. The design system features a combination of shelving columns formed by stacked timber sections (“node”) and timber shelving panels (“line”) for systemized flexibility. The combination theoretically enables an infinite expansion should the physical envelope become a different size or different geometry, to adapt to the amount of merchandises to be displayed, Shih points out.
Each stacked timber block measures 1.06 in. thick. Five layers of timber sections measuring 9.25 in. by 9.25 in. are stacked and repeated continuously to the ceiling, with two layers measuring 9.25 in. by 8.1 in. According to Shih, tree growth rings become visible by multiplying the layers, so that a “pattern of time” emerges. “At the point where the two narrower layers or ‘lines’ come together, shelves for display can be inserted freely,” she says. “By repeating this system, numerous arrangements are created and can be easily changed.”
Cedar is also the material of the shop’s floor and tables, making the store appear larger and adding visual dimension to the products shown. “We used the same cedar throughout, interior and exterior,” Shih notes. “All timber pieces were untreated for a natural aging process, except for staining the floor and the external wall.”
Rice paper was used to finish Habitat Antique’s ceiling, a traditional material for this surface in Japan. “It possesses a beautiful soft quality when lit,” Shih observes. Linen fabric lines the concrete block walls of the shop envelope, between the wall and the timber shelving. It also is used to conceal storage underneath the long bench along the window. Track lights contain 60-watt halogen lamps, while decorative pendants with 60-watt incandescent lamps are hung behind the front show windows.
“We consistently strive to find a simple component solution to express a complicated concept, to control the quality of construction and to directly communicate our design concepts,” Shih says. “Simplicity,” she concludes, “is the key.”
RSS
