This is a renovation project of a building shaped of a warehouse just in front of Hirao station in Fukuoka, Japan. The building was planned to include 4 different spaces with different functions, a café, botanical shop, showroom of an apartment and an office.

As this is also a place to propose people about living close with nature, it let plants to actively contribute in the creation of this one large space of a warehouse. The space has an overall tone of dark red which was inspired by existing steel beams with anti-rust coating. This was intended so the green colour of the plants can be vividly enhanced by its complementary colour, red. The outdoor terrace with leafy façade was made by taking advantage of space between the front road and building. This composition of the terrace has dragged into the interior space of the café as well, planning it like a landscape by creating reliefs with plants, benches and counters so it can generate various spots for people to stay around.

Another contrast that has been made was between the café and the showroom area. Here, although by keeping the physical connections of two spaces, finishes and colours of it has distinct contrast so it would emphasise the presence of the showroom.

Usually, a showroom of an apartment is just for looking at completed spaces, however here, the showroom and cafe has no separation so the people can use the entire space as a café area. This will allow them to eat lunch at the dining table, to have coffee while reading book in a lounge chair of a study which is part of the showroom. By this, people can experience the living space instead of just looking at it, and at the same time this idea of “a space being café and showroom” itself is being proposal of a new form of space.

By digging into the potential possibilities held by relationships such as combination between different colours and functions, types of spaces and experiences that hadn’t existed before could be able to get created.