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A Modern Nagoya Apartment That Adapts as the Child Grows

08.26.22 | By
A Modern Nagoya Apartment That Adapts as the Child Grows

Architect Taka Shinomoto, of rhymedesign, completed an apartment renovation in Nagoya, Japan, dubbed The Room for Small Gulliver, that’s designed to adapt as the couple’s child grows up. Looking to the fantasy worlds of Gulliver’s Travels and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the interior plays with scale hoping to inspire the child’s imagination while allowing the parents to live normally. The adults will see chairs to sit on, but the child could see those same chairs as a table, desk, or counter, based on their smaller size. As the child grows up, their perspective and relationship to the surrounding environment will morph as needed.

interior shot of modern apartment with floor to ceiling white bookcases

interior shot of modern apartment with floor to ceiling white bookcases with cube with child reading in it

Part of that idea is shown through three grey frames rhymedesign created, the smallest incorporated into the built-in bookshelf, another that can be moved around as needed, and the largest frames a bay window in the kitchen/dining room area. Each nook is made to let the child use them in different ways as they grow in size, whether it’s for play, to lounge inside and read, or to use as a desk.

interior shot of modern apartment with floor to ceiling bookcases with cube hosting father and son

interior shot of modern apartment with floor to ceiling bookcases

interior shot of modern apartment in dark green room with image of two deer on right and person in the distance

interior shot of modern apartment in dark green room with artwork showing two deer

interior shot of modern apartment in dark green bedroom with two deer featured in artwork

The parents’ bedroom is an all-green retreat they can escape to with a large sliding panel clad in a deer print that moves to the side to reveal the closet.

interior shot of modern apartment in dark green bedroom

interior shot of modern apartment in dark green bedroom

interior shot of modern apartment corner with wood stool

interior shot of modern apartment in dining room with women sitting in window frame and child sitting in rolling frame

interior shot of modern apartment dining room with two people

interior shot of modern apartment with two walls of bookcases and two people reading

interior shot of modern apartment with wall of white bookcases

interior shot of modern apartment with small kitchen

interior shot of modern apartment bathroom with dark blue upper walls and white below

interior shot of modern apartment entryway

modern apartment floor plan

Photos by Shinya Watanabe.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.