This project involves the renovation of a sixty-plus-year-old one-story wooden house near Umeda Station in Osaka into a Hender Scheme store.

DDAA interpreted one of Hender Scheme's production approaches as "remixing," for example, using familiar everyday items or classic sneakers as motifs and applying leather shoemaking techniques or superimposing leather parts on existing products. This creative approach of changing only how we look at things around us is an attitude DDAA identifies with, even though we work in different genres.

This project is Hender Scheme's flagship store in the Kansai region. Our idea was to design a space as an extension of what they do in fashion and product design, which we felt would be appropriate for the project.

DDAA has always focused on creating new perspectives and values while maintaining what already exists as much as possible in the past projects. The building had attractive existing columns and roof framing, which had already been retrofitted with structural plywood reinforcement. The question was how to create new value by superimposing new layers and perspectives like Hender Scheme's creative approach while keeping the existing building as intact as possible.

In this context, we proposed to add a new layer equipped with all necessary fixtures for the store without minding the existing elements, including the position of the glass windows and window sashes.

The client referred to this renovation as "kasou," meaning an "addition." It is not "kaisou," or a "refurbishment," which applies a new design to the existing elements that had been installed without design intent, such as reinforcements, but an "addition," which actively embraces these elements and adds a new layer without modifying them.

This idea of "kasou" inspired one of the design themes: "white." In the past, DDAA has often used materials in their original colors. Meanwhile, if we want to design without minding the existing elements, we need the background to showcase the products. This time, we set out to further explore unprecedented uses of white rather than simply painting a white background. Epoxy resin is mixed with white pigment to create a rough texture and slow the hardening speed, resulting in an icicle-like appearance. The design is intended to show how the white lines, disregarding and extending over the existing building when seen from a distance, have subtle nuances and different meanings when viewed up close.

The wall-mounted fixtures are white, and the floor-mounted fixtures are made of concrete to match the existing floor. The elegant polished floor finish that reveals the concrete aggregates harmonizes with the exposed lighting and the fixtures that disregard the existing building.

In addition, the backroom entrance allows access without using hands through leather curtains utilizing vinyl curtain hardware used in factories.