The School of Social Development / studio berardi miglio

The humanitarian organization Jay Nepal asked us to plan a school and volunteer center in a very remote place, a small and very poor village called Bodgaun in Nepal, about three hour's drive north of the capital Kathmandu. From the very beginning, we were aware that realizing this project, in many aspects, would be a complex challenge: having started the planning during the pandemic, we had not been able to visit the site, the financial resources were very limited (about one hundred thousand euros) and the planning and realization time was tight.

Pocheon House / 1990uao

According to the basic plan for creation, we were entrusted with a plan to create a studio in Deulan Village, which is part of the axis spatial network and a cultural ground around Suseong Pond. The site is one of the multifamily houses around Deulan Children's Park. The project could have been planned as a new building, but we chose internal and external space renovation by considering the existing residential type as a contemporary heritage and utilizing it for preservation.

KUMIHIMO: Japanese Silk Braiding by DOMYO / Rei Mitsui Architects

Design of the exhibition space for 'Yushoku Kumihimo Domyo' exhibition at the Japan House London, São Paulo, and Los Angeles. As we wondered how best to express the charm of small, delicate kumihimo within a large gallery, our first thought was that we needed a quiet and clear space, to make the small objects stand out and draw attention to them.

C4L House / CUBO Design Architect

In traditional Japanese homes, deep eaves linked the interior with the garden; from the dim rooms inside, residents admired the bright garden and spent the evenings by lamplight. Human life unfolded within such spaces for many centuries. As Junichiro Tanizaki writes in “In Praise of Shadows,” there are materials and furnishings whose beauty and comfort can only be fully appreciated in the half-light of a traditional home. Then there is the relationship between exterior and interior, expressed in the saying teioku ichinyo, meaning harmony between architecture and garden. We feel that by drawing on these traditions as well as on the natural sensibility of the Japanese people, and by incorporating many materials and furnishings imbued with the warmth of things made by hand, it is possible to create truly restful environments.  

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