Home Remodelling in Japan Reaches New Heights

THELIFE, I IN’s apartment design concept for real estate brand SMARG, brings luxe minimalist beauty and contemporary design to Japan’s niche home renovation market

Designed by Yohei Terui and Hiromu Yuyama of I IN, the apartments that make up Tokyo development THELIFE have all the hallmarks of a contemporary home — open planning, solid wood flooring, custom fittings, soft architectural lighting and floor-to-ceiling textured glass panelling — but they aren’t found in a new, deluxe condominium. 

Instead, THELIFE is a concept created for real estate company Good Life’s new home renovation brand SMARG, and rethinks old apartment structures into more affordable alternatives to brand-new designer homes. 'THELIFE is a design code. One that maximises the potential of an existing space to create an entirely new interior,’ Terui explains. 'Unlike most renovation projects in Japan, it doesn’t aim to retain architectural elements for nostalgic or historical purposes.’

The first THELIFE refurbishment project is a 56-square-metre apartment on the sixth floor of a 1980s building in Chūō City, Tokyo. With its original pedestrian exterior left untouched, the apartment’s revamped interior comes as a surprise. An opaque corrugated glass-panelled bathroom by the entrance allows a flood of natural light to reach the doorstep, and what was once a compact four-room apartment is now a spacious open-plan living, kitchen and sleeping space, sectioned off by minimalist furniture and fittings. Textured off-white walls become the perfect foil for the smooth lines of dark walnut furniture, some designed by I IN, others created in collaboration with Japanese furniture company Time & Style.

'We wanted to create a rich simplicity by using uncomplicated shapes that emphasise the density and quality of the materials, lighting and objects involved,’ says Yuyama. '‘We also focused on softness, using natural materials and textiles in vaguely futuristic forms and combinations.’

Part modular, part bespoke, THELIFE renovations follow several guidelines. The bathroom, for example, will always be glass-walled and situated at the home’s entrance, an unusual feature that, as the designers explain, isn’t just striking, but also allows daylight to fill the entire space. All corners of walls, fittings and furniture are softened with rounded edges that highlight the quality and texture of materials. Lighting is predominantly indirect, like LED strips recessed in walls and corners, or hidden in custom-made balks suspended from the ceiling.

The first apartment showcases just one of three colour and texture palettes designed by I IN, with a brighter white and a warm beige version to be revealed at a SMARG showroom opening in Shibuya in July 2021. As an all-encompassing brand, THELIFE even has its own scent to welcome visitors to the showroom, an earthy mix of 13 different aromas created by I IN in collaboration with @aroma.

'Many people in Japan think of renovation as a second choice when it comes to buying a home,’ says Terui. 'THELIFE aims to change that way of thinking, with luxury components and textures and colour palettes that can be adjusted to renovate spaces of all shapes and sizes.’

Text / Mio Yamada
Images / Tomooki Kengaku