This is the interior design for “aswell”, a select shop and cafe on the ground floor of a retro reinforced-concrete apartment block beside Lake Biwa in Kayanoura, Ōtsu-shi, Shiga. Aswell is located in a quiet spot away from the main trunk route.

By removing the previous store’s aluminium windows frames that were out of place in the relaxed concrete building that suggests the passage of time, we returned the building to its original expression with a simple composition having just a large opening with wooden fittings.

The interior has been laid bare to reveal notes and drawings made on the building itself when it was built, and we have used a simple composition that gently contrasts the similar expressions of the reinforced concrete floor, ceiling and pillars that have stood since then and the newly installed mortar counters and fixtures.

We have also combined copper, steel, wood and other materials that gradually change their expression with use in various places to tie the whole together into a luxurious space.

People who visit aswell will be able to sense the expectation and beauty that gives a feeling of the developing “from now on”.