T-HOUSE is the new exhibition and work space for the New Balance design team in Tokyo. The client's idea was to transplant an old "kura", a traditional Japanese wooden warehouse, from the city of Kawagoe into an industrial depot of the capital.

The designers reinterpret the client's idea  giving new meaning to the relocated structural frame and avoiding the risk that it might end up looking like “an old folk house displayed in a museum. "This architecture and the fake-looking structural framework of kura are no longer fake when we take advantage of their existing conditions, give them NEW functions, and put them to practical use." says Jo Nagasaka, founder of Schemata Architects.

The inspiration comes by chance when during the wooden structure reassembly, one of the carpenters improvises a cleaning tool holder using the existing holes of the wooden pillars according to the mortise and tenon joints.

The pure and compact volume of the depot allows a glimpse of the interior scenario from a single small entrance opening.

Tactile and chromatic material counterpoints create an evocative setting within the world of New Balance. The wood scratched by the patina of age is combined with the smooth grey resin of the flooring and the rough white finish of the shed walls. MDF elements embedded in the holes of the wooden pillars act as support devices for spotlights, hangers and pedestals on which a fine selection of shoes, Japanese tea and locally manufactured ceramic pieces are displayed.