Preserving what is unique to this house and exploring new ways to use it
About an hour's drive from Hiroshima city, we drove through the mountains and, beyond the rice fields, a house topped with red Sekishu roofing tiles appeared. This house was the home of Arita's paternal grandparents. It was a place he had visited many times as a child, and it was a place he had fond memories of, but in 2018, his grandparents passed away and it became uninhabited.
The entrance has been moved from the south side to the east side. Sekishu roofing tiles, which are produced in Shimane, have long been used in the neighboring Hiroshima area. 
"I don't want to throw away anything that my grandmother left behind that I can still use," says Arita, who has inherited all of the dishes in the cupboard.
All of her relatives currently live far away, and Arita's family usually lives in Tokyo. They considered demolishing the house, but they wanted to somehow preserve its "atmosphere," so her husband, architect Shogo Onodera, took on the task of renovating it.
There are several buildings scattered across the site, but the main house they tackled first is 120 years old. "It's based on a traditional farmhouse format, but because it has been expanded and renovated many times over the years, there are unnecessary beams and the structure needs reinforcement. We had to rethink the whole thing to make it a place that can be used in a new way, while still making the most of what was already there," says Onodera.
The floor plan before the renovation, which consisted of a collection of eight Japanese-style rooms, was boldly demolished. The large hall, with its pillars extended, is now a public space for family and friends to gather. The rest of the house is divided into areas with dirt floors that are pulled inside, making it brighter and easier to manage. 
Behind the glass doors is a living room of about 6 tatami mats. The hearth has also been restored. "The house itself opens to the outside, and the individual rooms are compact and easy to close off. I hope this will lead to proposals that encourage the use of large, vacant farmhouses that remain in marginal villages all over Japan," says Onodera. 
The veranda that wraps around the eaves and the wide entrance veranda that is pulled into the room at the same height connect the inside and outside of the house. The seating is a rattan lounge chair designed by Isamu Kenmochi.
