Tato Architects / Yo Shimada

BAR in Miyagawasuji

Location／Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Principal use／Bar
Client／BAR SOVL

Design

Tato Architects
Team／Yo Shimada, Ayumi Morimoto, Jinnosuke Hara

Structural engineer

tmsd Takashi Manda Structural Design
Team／Takashi Manda, Ryosuke Kasuga

Sign & graphic design

Kyoto City University of Arts
Team／Ichiro Funakoshi

Construction

ZGRCS build
Team／Koji Azuma

Structure

Main structure　Timber

Scale

2 storeys above ground
Eaves height　4,715 mm　Maximum height　4,865 mm
Site area　43.74 ㎡
Building footprint　36.32 ㎡（building coverage ratio 83.0%　permitted 80%）
Total floor area　65.56 ㎡（floor area ratio 149.8%　permitted 400%）
1st floor　36.32 ㎡　2nd floor　29.24 ㎡
*All dimensions are approximate, as the existing building was retained.

Completion

2025

We converted an old machiya townhouse in Miyagawacho, one of Kyoto’s geisha districts, into a bar.

Though we call it a machiya, it does not have the deep, elongated plan typical of Kyoto townhouses. It is a modest wooden dwelling dating from the early Showa era, closer in character to a shimotaya—a townhouse used primarily as a residence rather than for trade—and one of the small homes that must once have been commonplace in this neighborhood.

The building survives today only because the houses in the row lean on and support one another, and in the years to come the row will likely be broken apart one unit at a time. With this in mind, we felt that, even though the property is rented, it needed a structure capable of protecting the people inside should the worst happen. Yet the condition of the old timber frame was uncertain, and there was no guarantee that added diagonal bracing would perform as intended. We therefore chose not to rely on the existing wooden structure. Instead, we built reinforced-concrete walls just inside it, rising 1,000 mm above the floor. New concrete nestles against the old wooden posts. These low walls loosely divide the interior as they extend from the street toward the rear, while also forming the base of the counter—a minimal intervention that gives the space a sense of depth.

The brief called for a place that was “not too authentic, not too casual”—approachable and easy to drop into. Working within a limited budget, we handled seemingly rough materials with care, aiming for a space in which old and new harmonize rather than stand in stark contrast.

When the formwork was removed after casting, we noticed that the panels, seen in a different light, bore beautiful variations in tone reminiscent of scraped plaster. We therefore reused them as the finish for the walls above, treating the traces of construction as a positive part of the design.

The owner wanted the frontage to feel easy to enter, but the site lies within the Miyagawacho Historic Landscape Preservation and Improvement District, and opening the bar too plainly to the street seemed inappropriate. We therefore made the entire frontage from vertical lattice doors, allowing a sense of the activity within to filter out to the street while making it possible, on occasion, to throw the doors fully open.

At the rear, a single-story lean-to has no upper floor above it and therefore required no reinforcement. The concrete walls stop before reaching this area, and we treated the existing space as a rear garden. Here the floor changes to brick paving, and a round table stands as though a piece of that paving had risen into the air. Exactly half of the table extends beyond the building line, making it difficult to tell where inside ends and outside begins—especially after a few drinks.

The walls of this rear garden are lined with lauan plywood that we dyed ourselves with indigo, while the counter reuses indigo-dyed cedar flooring boards. Indigo is a familiar color in Miyagawacho, appearing in clothing worn by geiko and maiko at summer events and in their daily practice, as well as in the noren curtains hung at shopfronts. By introducing indigo among the unassuming tones of old and new—timber and concrete—we sought to give the bar a quiet dignity appropriate to this district.