Just behind Bukkoji Temple, a traditional machiya townhouse has been carefully restored into a single house accommodation, preserving its architectural integrity while adapting it for contemporary living. The project, led by Keiji Ashizawa Design, embraces the existing structure as both framework and narrative.

The renovation retains key spatial elements intrinsic to the machiya typology: timber framework, lattice screens, shoji panels, the innergarden, and the layered sequence of spaces defined by the tori-niwa passage. Rather than imposing a new order, the intervention builds upon these features, allowing the house’s original logic to remain legible. 

The layout evolves from the raised entrance (agari-kamachi), where subtle changes in floor level articulate different functions while maintaining spatial continuity. A tatami room, slightly elevated above the dining area, merges visually and physically with the rest of the ground floor. A double-height void (hibukuro) further reinforces this connection, linking the dining kitchen below with the living area above through light and shared volume.