Ryohei Tanaka: Painting studio

The Japanese architect's renovation of a small painting studio is inspired by the Kintsugi pottery repair technique, where accidents create beautiful repair.

Ryohei Tanaka has completed a renovation of a small atelier for a painter in a 25-year-old apartment building. Titled PRC (from patched reinforced concrete), the project grows out of an experimental technique employed here by the architects. They began by spraying a white paint onto existing concrete walls and ceiling, masked by a special EVA sheet with a cobweb-like pattern. This creates a surprising effect for the onlooker.

As a result, the surface of the wall became a texture, somewhat like a floral pattern: surfaces in the interior mix the texture of the old wall (that had been left unfinished) with the new wall, now painted white. The process is inspired by Kintsugi, a Japanese technique for repairing broken pottery. Kintsugi involves patching cracked lines in gold. In this case, accident makes beautiful repair. In this interior, a new harmony has been achieved, and the architects remark that "for the wall, something old is not just old, it is better than just new".

Ryohei Tanaka: PRC (patched reinforced concrete) painting studio
Architetct: Ryohei Tanaka / G
Construction: Kenji Okubo / DOUGU
Area: 70,5 square metres
Completion: 2012