Last year, architects Takuya Tsuchida and Makiko Okano of the Yokohama-based firm No. 555 renovated a humble apartment in the coastal city of Hayama, Japan, by moving in for the summer and renovating it bit by bit. The architects enlisted the No. 555 design team and students from the Kanto Gakuin University to help with the painting and plasterwork (stucco finished with a coating of lye), and treated the polished concrete floors like a Jackson Pollock painting. Here’s a look at the project from finish to start (scroll down).
Photography by Masatoshi Mori, courtesy of No. 555.

Above: The living room is outfitted with midcentury modern and traditional Japanese antiques. A grouping of potted plants and hanging Staghorn fern bring life into the small space. For similar furniture from Beijing-based Lost & Found, see our post Communist Era?Inspired Furniture in Beijing.
Above: The concrete floor with splatter paint detail.

Above: The dining room is kitted with a custom wood table in the same style as the kitchen counters and French brasserie rattan chairs (you can source them at American Country or Williams Sonoma).

Above L: No. 555 designed the open kitchen with a series of unfinished wood countertops finished with eco-friendly oil from Osmo. Above the kitchen island in the foreground is a custom hanging wine rack suspended from steel wire. Above R: The entryway to the apartment with shelves for storing house shoes.

Above: A modern Japanese living space with...