Yuko Numata (YNAS)

Villa Serena, a half-century-old apartment nestled along a path in Jingu. At the top of a narrow staircase, wedged between yellow-painted walls, lies a single unit, reimagined by an architect and a casting director as both their home and studio. The renovation honors the building’s original structural composition and inherent beauty, introducing a new spatial configuration and floor levels that create subtle gradations of privacy while preserving a sense of connection to the surrounding community and nature. A single curved wall, mirroring the form of the building’s shared spaces, divides the open-plan interior into a sequence of fluid and interconnected scenes.