Kōji NakagawaArchitecture Studio

Kyoto · Machiya & cafe interiors

Old timber, quiet light.

We are a four-person studio in Kyoto renovating machiya timber townhouses and designing small cafe interiors in the historic districts. We keep what the building has already learned, and add only what it needs.

See selected work Start a conversation
  • 10–18 months per project
  • Fees from ¥4.5M
  • 4 people, one room
Kōshi lattice, elevation studyMove to shift the light

01 · Approach

Renovation as listening

A machiya is a long, narrow house built around a courtyard, a ventilated roof and a frame that can be taken apart and mended. Most arrive to us tired, patched, and half-forgotten behind aluminium shutters.

We begin by surveying the frame joint by joint, then decide what to repair, what to reveal, and what to leave alone. New work is drawn to be legible and, wherever possible, reversible.

  • Repair

    Keep the frame

    Traditional joinery repairs, root-block replacement and earth-wall patching by local craftspeople.

  • Light

    Borrow the courtyard

    Daylight is drawn deep into the plan through tsubo-niwa, lattices and paper screens.

  • Use

    Fit the small room

    Cafe counters, seating and storage sized to the house, not forced upon it.

02 · Selected work

Houses and rooms, lived in

  1. 2023

    Nishijin Courtyard House

    Full renovation of a 1910s weaver’s machiya into a family home with a studio loft.

    14 months
  2. 2022

    Kamo-gawa Counter Cafe

    Eleven-seat coffee counter inserted into the front room of a former sake merchant’s house.

    10 months
  3. 2021

    Gion Tea Room Annex

    Structural reinforcement and a quiet interior for a small tea and sweets cafe.

    18 months

03 · Process

Slow on purpose, clear throughout

  • Months 1–2

    Survey

    Measured drawings, structural assessment and a study of the building’s history and neighbours.

  • Months 3–5

    Design

    Models, material samples and permit work, including heritage-district approvals.

  • Months 6–16

    Build

    Site visits every week, with decisions made in the house itself, alongside the carpenters.

  • Final weeks

    Handover

    A care guide for the timber, plaster and paper, and a visit after the first full season.

04 · Studio

Four people, one table

Kōji Nakagawa founded the studio after a decade restoring temples and townhouses across Kansai. Today he works with two architects and a model-maker from a converted machiya a short walk from the river.

We take on a small number of projects each year so that every one is drawn, visited and built with full attention.

05 · Contact

Have a house in mind?

Tell us where it is, how old it is, and what you hope it will become. We reply within a week, and a first site visit in Kyoto is always free.

studio@nakagawa-architecture.example

Kyoto, Japan · Mon–Fri, 9:30–17:30 JST

Anatomy of a project pagePlates 01–03

Read the building in plan and section.

Every project page opens with a large photograph, then moves to the plan and section drawings that explain how light and timber work together.

Short notes describe the site, the materials and the role of the courtyard.

  1. Fig. 1Large photographs
  2. Plate 02Floor plans
  3. Plate 03Section drawings
  4. NoteMaterials note: reclaimed cedar
Street
Fig. 1Street-front elevation: eaves, kōshi lattice, noren
Street Tsubo-niwa AA Rear
Plate 02Floor plan, courtyard at the centre; cut A–A
Site
A narrow plot in a historic district: short on frontage, long on depth.
Courtyard
The tsubo-niwa lends daylight to rooms that have no street wall.
Reading
Follow the grey tone from the courtyard outward; it marks where borrowed light reaches.

The courtyard is the room that lends light to all the others.

Materials noteReclaimed cedar from local demolitions, kept where its grain and old joints can still be read.

Preview