A large semicircular table reorganizes the living space in KYOTO
In a vacant unit within a council housing complex at Kyotoa semi-circular one 3.6 m in diameter table becomes its central organizational element living space. Designed by Tato Architects – Yo Shimada as part of a renovation initiative involving eight universities across Kyoto, the project converts vacant units in an aging residential area into corporate housing for welfare workers. Each participating architecture program is responsible for the renovation of one unit, with the broader initiative aiming to reactivate vacant apartments and contribute to the revitalization of the residential community.
The renovation was developed by graduate students of the Yo Shimada Laboratory at Kyoto City University of the Arts. Within the existing one-room apartment, domestic functions are consolidated into a compact plywood volumes, while the large teal table extends across the living room, providing a communal surface for meals, work, conversation and relaxation. The project uses the scale and position of this single piece of furniture to reorganize everyday life within the apartment.
all images ©Yohei Sasakura
The plywood volumes and the blue-green table redefine the design
The original apartment was designed for a nuclear family, with a fragmented layout defined by many walls. After the non-structural partitions were removed, the unit became a more open space that felt large relative to the needs of a single occupant. Yo Shimada Laboratoryconsisting of four first-year master’s students and four third-year undergraduate students, developed individual renovation proposals before presenting eight designs to a joint mid-term review involving the participating universities. After discussions around the implementation, a proposal was selected for construction, which led to the further development of building services, finishes and working plans.
The design responds to the scale of the new interior by introducing a semi-circular table that extends beyond conventional furniture dimensions. With a diameter of 3,600 mm, the table occupies the living room, which has an area of over 20 sq.m. and seems to extend from the next room into the main space. The room is finished uniformly in white, allowing the table to act as the main spatial element within the otherwise open interior. Rather than assigning the table a specific function, the design treats it as a large shared surface that supports different aspects of everyday life. Its scale encourages activities to move beyond the smaller functional areas of the apartment and into the living space.
the functional rooms, which occupy about a third of the unit, are housed in a plywood volume
Instead, service functions are concentrated in about a third of the total floor area. The bedroom, kitchen, toilet and bathroom have been reduced to compact dimensions and organized around the existing walls of the toilet and bathroom, which act as fixed points within the plan. These functional spaces use plywood and tile finishes and share the blue-green color of the large table, creating a visual relationship while maintaining a distinct material character. With domestic functions reduced to their essential dimensions, the large semicircular table becomes the central surface around which daily activities are organized, allowing the boundaries between dining, work, conversation and relaxation to remain flexible.
the large surface, beyond the human scale, is intended as a background for everyday life within the white room
