{"id":516,"date":"2026-08-28T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T03:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/s-designfarm.co.jp\/en\/?post_type=works&p=516"},"modified":"2026-08-28T22:47:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:47:04","slug":"the-void-retrofit-apartment-building","status":"publish","type":"works","link":"https:\/\/s-designfarm.co.jp\/en\/works\/the-void-retrofit-apartment-building\/","title":{"rendered":"The Void-Retrofit Apartment Building"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Void-Retrofit Apartment Building<\/h1>\n
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A 52-year-old wall-structure apartment building that had to be kept and used rather than demolished. Through a reversed idea\u2014removing floors to create voids and thereby raise seismic performance\u2014floor area was deliberately cut and turned into added value. Rooms left in their stripped state, which residents can customize by DIY, were also provided.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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Data<\/h2>
Completed<\/dt>
2025<\/dd><\/dl>
Primary Use<\/dt>
Rental housing<\/dd><\/dl>
Project Type<\/dt>
Renovation (rebuild + floor-area reduction)<\/dd><\/dl>
Structure \/ Scale<\/dt>
Wall-structure reinforced concrete, 5 stories<\/dd><\/dl>
Site Area<\/dt>
392.03\u33a1<\/dd><\/dl>
Building Area<\/dt>
217.08\u33a1<\/dd><\/dl>
Total Floor Area<\/dt>
1,085.40\u33a1 before renovation \/ 498.39\u33a1 after<\/dd><\/dl>
Architects<\/dt>
Takeshi Shikauchi + Masako Shikauchi<\/dd><\/dl>
Client<\/dt>
Iseu Co., Ltd.<\/dd><\/dl>
Structural Design<\/dt>
TTSE Inc.<\/dd><\/dl>
Contractor<\/dt>
Ohara Construction Co., Ltd.<\/dd><\/dl>
Photography<\/dt>
Kouichi Torimura \/ Kouichi Torimura Photography<\/dd><\/dl><\/div><\/div>

Award<\/h2>
2025<\/dt>
32nd Chiba Prefecture Architectural Culture Award, Housing Category, Winner<\/a><\/dd><\/dl><\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n
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A Renovation That Cuts Floor Area to Raise Value<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A renovation of a 52-year-old RC wall-structure apartment building. Rather than being divided among unit owners, the whole building is held by a single owner, and the current owner, who inherited it from the previous generation, asked us not to demolish and rebuild but to keep and use it as it was, for the sake of the community. A single stop out from a terminal station on the periphery of the city center, such stock tends to have few tenants and becomes a source of worry for property owners. The turning point came in discussion with the structural engineer, who noted that \u201ca wall structure can be made more seismically resistant by removing floors to create voids.\u201d Reducing floor area lowers rental income\u2014the very opposite of real-estate logic\u2014yet we chose to deliberately cut floors to make voids and turn this into added value. Within a limited budget, we prepared living spaces with a degree of insulation secured, and the places left in their stripped state we named \u201ccustomize rooms,\u201d which tenants are free to use and to DIY as they like. Perhaps because a rawness remains, it is a curious space\u2014indoors, yet as if one were out in nature\u2014and the excessive sense of scale of a three-story void may be what produces that feeling. With these customize rooms, we feel that the residents\u2019 lives, their pleasures, and their involvements within daily life will keep expanding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"works_main_image":874,"works_sub_image":875,"works_location":"Chiba","works_type":"Renovation","works_completion_year":"2025","ogp_image":872,"ogp_caption":"A 52-year-old wall-structure apartment building that had to be kept and used rather than demolished.","footnotes":""},"works_category":[20,3],"works_tag":[19,11],"class_list":["post-516","works","type-works","status-publish","hentry","works_category-multi-unit-housing","works_category-renovation","works_tag-highceiling","works_tag-view"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/s-designfarm.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/works\/516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/s-designfarm.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/works"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/s-designfarm.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/works"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/s-designfarm.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/works\/516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1022,"href":"https:\/\/s-designfarm.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/works\/516\/revisions\/1022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/s-designfarm.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"works_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/s-designfarm.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/works_category?post=516"},{"taxonomy":"works_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/s-designfarm.co.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/works_tag?post=516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}