Yohei Takano, Sachiko Morita (MARU。architecture)

This is a renovation project for an old flower shop “Hanaju” located at the entrance of Yanaka Cemetery. Beginning of this project, the site was densely populated with some buildings due to repeated additions. After doing some historical research, we demolished several buildings, and we created a garden for the Yanaka community.
The idea behind the conservation was not to rewind the building back to a certain period, but to make it a place that will continue to change in the future, thus preserving the architecture in a living, ‘dynamic conservation’ state. The rhythm of the dimensional structures is seen as a timeless ‘law’ that pervades the buildings, and the structures of each building are used as a representation to connect the space, with new steel structures extending into the garden as a continuation of the existing structures.
Elements such as newly added finishes and furniture were placed across the whole, with the idea of connecting the old and new, inside and outside, people and plants in a chain-like manner. With the ‘law’ as a skeleton at the base of the space, the elements and activities were to be receptive to change and become a living, ever-changing architecture.