The New Pioneers: An Architect's One-Room Family House - Remodelista
Is a room of one’s own overrated? Photographs by Mikiko Kikuyama. Architect Takaaki Kawabata, a senior associate at Janson Goldstein in New York, and his wife and collaborator, designer Christina Kawabata, recently transformed a 1960s log cabin in Garrison, New York, into a dramatic open-plan design in which family togetherness and excess-free living are built into the architecture. The Kawabata’s children, Tozai, six, and Akari, three, play on benches and stools made by their parents from leftover lumber left outside for a year to turn gray. As with all remodels, the building process was arduous and not without drama: Taka hired and fired two contractors who had failed to show up on schedule and to get the work done to his liking. The interior was a warren of small, dark rooms without any connection to the outdoors. Taka remedied the situation by introducing an 18-foot-by-4-foot, north-facing skylight plus a ribbon of south-facing windows from Marvin. Taka and Christina designed the dining table, which looks out on a mountain view. The living area has a minimalist fireplace with a slate hearth and a freestanding surround that was created around the original. The skylight, the backbone of the house, is a commercial model made by A.I.A. Taka and Christina choose to live in a house in which every object is on view and carefully chosen. The kitchen is in the back of the room (and the fridge and stove are out of view behind an 18-foot-long freestanding wall). He used metal legs painted gray, a large stainless sink that they already owned, and a plywood top stained with two coats of Benjamin Moore walnut and finished with a food-grade sealant. Industrial metal shelves house kitchen essentials (and more pantry goods are stored behind the wall). “Architects love it for cost and performance.” (To learn more, see Julie’s ode to her Chicago Faucets.) A metal screen wound with string sections off a corner of the living space as a combination kids’ playroom, bedroom, closet, and art gallery. The family hang their clothes on a metal rack (a small attic off the sleeping loft comes in very handy for storing out-of-season wear as well as the kids’ bedding). The kids are encouraged to play with one toy at a time; the bulk of their things are stashed in a straw basket. Taka has his kids pick out images from art books to hang in the gallery. “We used white nylon string to create the screen,” says Taka. Taka and Christina sleep in the loft on a futon purchased on the Lower East Side. “Around 5:30 in the morning light pours in and we wake up. It’s a beautiful soft glow. It’s really quiet because the kids are still sleeping; we love that time.” No bedside lights? The 18-foot-long freestanding wall behind the kitchen conceals the bathroom (in lieu of a door, there’s a curtain–and installing a sliding door is on Taka’s To Do list). The shower is sheathed with Italian gray porcelain tiles. Taka and Christina designed a suspended towel rack. A second custom towel bar leans on a wall. Christina’s office is in a section of the basement that opens to the garden. She runs her own interior design firm, Takatina, and works with Taka on jobs that require an architect. Living in a one-room house is ideal for now, while the kids are young, but part of the plan in purchasing a small place is that someday the family will build an addition. Creating an open floor plan involved removing a lot of walls, and consulting an engineer to make sure it was feasible and affordable. And if you like Japanese design, peruse our Autumn in Japan issue.