Project Name: THE CASE

Location: Unzen City, Japan

Design Team: Kawashima Yohei Architectural Design Office

Total Floor Area: 115 m²

Completion: March 2025

Photography: Koji Fujii / TOREAL

Design Features: Kawashima Yohei Architectural Design Office has completed THE CASE, a multi-purpose commercial interior located in Unzen City, Nagasaki Prefecture. Occupying a single 115-square-metre tenancy within an existing building on a quiet pedestrian street, the project synthesises three distinct programmatic functions, namely an event and exhibition venue, a cafe, and a curated apparel boutique, into a spatially coherent and operationally efficient environment for contemporary urban life.

The conceptual foundation of the project derives from a precise observation of the client. The sole proprietor, an experienced cafe operator already embedded in the local community of Unzen, was known for the ease and frequency with which she engaged in conversation with passersby. Rather than designing a space that turns inward, the architect translated this relational quality into spatial form by positioning a generously scaled counter directly along the street-facing facade. This single architectural decision places the operator in permanent visual and social dialogue with the public realm, fundamentally dissolving the threshold between interior operation and the surrounding street.

The placement of the counter was subject to rigorous spatial and operational consideration. Situated at the convergence of sightlines across the entire floor plan, it enables a single operator to maintain simultaneous oversight of the cafe zone at the front, the select apparel section in the middle, and the flexible event space at the rear, achieving a rare unity between operational logic and spatial experience. Rather than dividing these zones through fixed partitions, the design allows them to remain in fluid continuity, inviting visitors to move between modes of occupation guided by curiosity. The project demonstrates with quiet conviction that precision in functional planning and warmth in spatial atmosphere are not competing values but mutually reinforcing ones.

Design Team: Kawashima Yohei Architectural Design Office was established in 2014 by principal architect Kawashima Yohei, and is headquartered in the Toko Building, Taito, Tokyo. Born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1983, Kawashima completed his graduate studies at Musashino Art University in 2008 before joining Nagayama Yuko Architects, where he accumulated six years of professional practice and refined his approach to material culture and spatial narrative. He holds a first-class architect licence and leads the incorporated practice, which is registered under the Tokyo Metropolitan Governor.

The office has developed a portfolio spanning a broad range of typologies, including retail interiors, hospitality and resort facilities, residential apartment buildings, student dormitories, and mixed-use commercial developments, with active commissions distributed across Japan. This typological diversity reflects the practice's core methodology of contextual responsiveness, applied consistently regardless of programme or scale. The office deliberately maintains a selective project volume to ensure that each commission receives the undivided attention of its principal architect throughout the design and delivery process.

In 2016, Kawashima received the top prize at the Under-35 Architects design competition for a glass architecture proposal centred on layered and varied natural light, establishing a clear intellectual identity and critical standing within Japan's emerging architectural discourse. The same year, the office was selected for the Tokyo Architecture Collection, further affirming its position within the country's new generation of architectural practice. Currently expanding its team to meet growing national demand, the office has ongoing new-build commissions across hotel, collective housing, university dormitory, and mixed-use tenancy typologies.