2015.02.03 Tue
I coordinated the interior for a model apartment for UR×TSUTAYA.
Right around the new year, I was asked to help create a model apartment for UR Housing in a design collaboration with Tsutaya. Just by changing the interior decoration of one apartment in the vintage condo apartment building UR Daimyo Daisan Danchi, right next to Daimyo Elementary School, we transformed the whole place and gave it new life. As a project the idea is to inspire young people to consider taking a new look at UR vintage danchi housing projects.
We got Kana Fujita, who has been appearing in TV commercials for UR, to help with the design plan, based on the idea of creating her ideal apartment. Tsutaya supplied wall-to-wall culture in the form of books and music. I was in charge of the overall concept for the space, plus the design coordination and budget. I found some of the pieces online, but I ended up spending most of my time in the weeks around the new year going back and forth to shops in Tenjin to hunt down pieces for the rooms.
I picked a theme for each room and coordinated furniture, accessories, lighting, dishware and utensils to match. It turned out that fujikana loves architecture books, so we packed the bookshelves with all kinds of art books and magazines about architecture. In fact I built these bookshelves out of scaffold planking and blocks. DIY projects that can be done without spending too much time or money, and that fit perfectly into the layout of the apartment, are indispensable to creating ideal rooms. So as to take full advantage of the tatami floor in the living room, I kept sight lines low and used piles of cushions, thinking about people relaxing on the floor without having too much furniture in the way. (You can’t see it in the photo but there are tons of cushions right in front.)
For the kitchen, fujikana said she loves to bake bread, so I used the image of a bakery as my inspiration. Tsutaya put together some magazines about breadmaking plus baking accessories. There is a lot of counter space with plenty of room for cooking, which is a great feature of this property.
This is a bedroom. Stacked with manga and paperbacks, plus DJ mixing equipment and albums, it is definitely designed to accommodate her favorite things. I took the door off the closet and used scaffold planking again to make shelves. Who wouldn’t want to live in a room surrounded by things that you love?
The theme for this other room is travel. Things collected in her travels out of Japan, odds and ends, photos pinned to the steamer trunk, all kinds of pieces are mixed together in a bit of a jumble. This was the room everybody liked the most among the design team. This one is definitely worth a visit to the model apartment to experience yourself.
■ Special Website
How To Make Your Home Cozy
Every week a new volume will be released at this special AFRO FUKUOKA website, so take a look at these videos too!
■ Model Room
Location: UR Daimyo Daisan Danchi (Housing Project 3)
Address: 2-6-20 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka
Time: 10:00〜17:00
Tel: 0120-555-795 / 092-722-1101
※ To see the apartment, first come to UR Fukuoka Business Center (on the 2nd floor of the building)