When a family in Chiba, Japan wanted to demolish their eight-unit apartment building and construct a brand new home, their architect, Kazuyasu Kochi had a different idea. Kochi kept the exterior intact, while turning the interior into a single-family house. The residence was turned into a cubist haven of asymmetric spaces, varying depths, and different colored rooms. Kochi kept the project affordable by using materials like plywood to divide and shape the living quarters. He also tore down floors and walls to make the three-dimensional space into two-dimensional shapes or “reverse Cubism.” It is very common in Japan for people to choose to re-build new instead of renovating. Kochi’s vision will hopefully encourage others to also work with what they have. His design is fun, airy, and a place someone like Picasso would surely have loved to lounge in.
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