Yutorie Atami House / Naoshi Kondo studio

In December 2021, Yutorie Atami opened at Shizuoka, Japan as a gasshukujo, or a “dormitory” in Japanese. It is a renovation project by Naoshi Kondo, the owner, architect, and interior designer – but not the usual gasshukujo nor renovation project you would expect. It embodies the creative attitude of Kondo, who is active in multidisciplinary design fields and always combines a unique sense of humor and edge to his works. He also questions the “renovation design” standards that are thought a means to leave “what was there” in the best way possible. Yutorie’s identity is established through spontaneous traces of intuitive decisions, something that could not be realized within structural creative logic or consideration of necessities, leading to a surprising accumulation of exquisite balance.