Nano Architects remodels 1960s apartment in Japan with curved and letterbox-shaped openings
Japanese studio Nano Architects has renovated a small 1960s apartment with custom-built wooden furniture, ornamental driftwood and unusually shaped openings – a process described by the team as "cyborg surgery" (+ slideshow).
![The Times Resuscitation Building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Times-Resuscitation-Building-by-Nano-Architects_dezeen_468_4.jpg)
The project, named The Times Resuscitation Building, involved refurbishing the interior of an apartment in the 1967 red-brick building known as Sanno Mansion in Fukuoka, Japan – a building where the architects had previously designed another home.
Nano Architects transplanted a modern interior into the flat in the dilapidated building, adding surfaces with curved edges, adjustable wooden shelving and clean white paintwork.
![The Times Resuscitation Building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Times-Resuscitation-Building-by-Nano-Architects_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
"It was a cutting-edge rental apartment with a telephone switchboard room and an elevator that was rare at that time," said the architects.
"It fell into a negative spiral of decreased occupancy rate, reduction of rent and declined revenue. Everyone had been feeling that it had no value with its aged modern style appearance."
![The Times Resuscitation Building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Times-Resuscitation-Building-by-Nano-Architects_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
The architects said they wanted to "resuscitate the life" into the apartment by pairing new fittings with the original features.
"It is like a cyborg surgery that resuscitates a life that is drifting at the brink of death by replacing the dysfunctional areas," said the architects.
![The Times Resuscitation Building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Times-Resuscitation-Building-by-Nano-Architects_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
"Dingy" tatami-mat flooring was replaced with chequered green-grey matting, alongside pale wooden floorboards.
In the living room, a curved table constructed in the same timber as the floorboards was built under a large horizontal window that runs across the front of the flat.
![The Times Resuscitation Building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Times-Resuscitation-Building-by-Nano-Architects_dezeen_468_7.jpg)
According to the architects, a sculptural piece of driftwood inserted into an opening in the tabletop symbolises the significance of undervalued objects and materials.
"Like the driftwood – which has no value – is transformed into a valuable object, Sanno Mansion could also be revived through the renovation," they said.
![The Times Resuscitation Building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Times-Resuscitation-Building-by-Nano-Architects_dezeen_468_2.jpg)
In the white wall between the living room and bedroom, a large curved cut-out lets light pass between the two spaces, and a series of small wooden shelves protrude from letterbox-like openings.
![The Times Resuscitation Building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Times-Resuscitation-Building-by-Nano-Architects_dezeen_468_6.jpg)
The wooden table-top continues through the curved gap into the bedroom to create a wooden window seat.
Beneath the bench, a storage space has sliding doors framed to match the proportions of the frosted window panes.
![The Times Resuscitation Building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Times-Resuscitation-Building-by-Nano-Architects_dezeen_468_5.jpg)
By the entrance to the apartment, located at one end of the living room, a large wooden shelving system partially separates an entrance hall from the kitchen. The unit has moveable shelves that slot into grooves in the up-posts.
Slim metal rails stretch between the living room and bathroom walls, skewering the top of the shelving unit to create a built-in washing line for the residents.
![The Times Resuscitation Building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Times-Resuscitation-Building-by-Nano-Architects_dezeen_468_8.jpg)
Photography is by Yasunori Hidaka.
![The Times Resuscitation Building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Times-Resuscitation-Building-by-Nano-Architects_dezeen_1.gif)
![The Times Resuscitation Building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/11/The-Times-Resuscitation-Building-by-Nano-Architects_dezeen_2.gif)