C4L House / CUBO Design Architect

In traditional Japanese homes, deep eaves linked the interior with the garden; from the dim rooms inside, residents admired the bright garden and spent the evenings by lamplight. Human life unfolded within such spaces for many centuries. As Junichiro Tanizaki writes in “In Praise of Shadows,” there are materials and furnishings whose beauty and comfort can only be fully appreciated in the half-light of a traditional home. Then there is the relationship between exterior and interior, expressed in the saying teioku ichinyo, meaning harmony between architecture and garden. We feel that by drawing on these traditions as well as on the natural sensibility of the Japanese people, and by incorporating many materials and furnishings imbued with the warmth of things made by hand, it is possible to create truly restful environments.