In a vacant unit within a municipal housing complex in Kyoto, a 3.6 m-diameter semicircular table becomes the central organizing element of the living space. Designed by Tato Architects – Yo Shimada as part of a renovation initiative involving eight universities across Kyoto, the project transforms vacant units in an aging housing estate into company housing for welfare-sector workers. Each participating architecture program is responsible for renovating one unit, with the broader initiative aiming to reactivate vacant apartments and contribute to the revitalization of the housing community.

The renovation was developed by graduate students of Yo Shimada Laboratory at Kyoto City University of Arts. Within the existing one-room apartment, domestic functions are consolidated into compact plywood volumes, while the large blue-green table extends across the living area, providing a shared surface for meals, work, conversation, and rest. The project uses the scale and position of this single furniture element to reorganize everyday life within the apartment.

all images ©Yohei Sasakura

The original apartment was planned for a nuclear family, with a fragmented layout defined by multiple walls. After the non-structural partitions were removed, the unit became a more open space that felt large in relation to the needs of a single occupant. Yo Shimada Laboratory, comprising four first-year master’s students and four third-year undergraduate students, developed individual renovation proposals before presenting eight schemes at a joint interim review involving the participating universities. Following discussions around implementation, one proposal was selected for construction, leading to further development of the building services, finishes, and working drawings.

The design responds to the scale of the newly opened interior by introducing a semicircular table that extends beyond conventional furniture dimensions. Measuring 3,600 mm in diameter, the table occupies the living room, which measures more than 20 sqm, and appears to extend from the adjacent room into the main space. The room is finished uniformly in white, allowing the table to act as the primary spatial element within the otherwise open interior. Rather than assigning the table a specific function, the design treats it as a large shared surface that supports different aspects of daily life. Its scale encourages activities to move beyond the smaller functional areas of the apartment and into the living space.

the functional rooms, occupying roughly one-third of the unit, are housed in a plywood volume

In contrast, the service functions are concentrated within approximately one-third of the total floor area. The bedroom, kitchen, toilet, and bathroom are reduced to compact dimensions and organized around the existing walls of the toilet and bathroom, which serve as fixed points within the plan. These functional spaces use plywood and tile finishes and share the blue-green color of the large table, establishing a visual relationship while maintaining a distinct material character. With the domestic functions reduced to their essential dimensions, the large semicircular table becomes the central surface around which everyday activities are organized, allowing the boundaries between dining, working, conversation, and rest to remain flexible.

the large surface, beyond human scale, is intended as a backdrop to daily life within the white room