Okomeya is a minimalist house located in Tokyo, Japan, designed by Schemata Architects. This rice shop is located on a modest-sized shopping street spanning 300 meters between the main shopping area and Togoshi Koen station. The street used to prosper with an array of small individual shops, but it has declined substantially and many shops had been closed down. As a consequence, the street is increasingly filled with closed shutters. If no measure is taken against the declining condition, it would eventually become a so-called “shutter street” and the shopping street would disappear.

The shop design is kept very simple and low-cost. The building was very old and run-down, but the architects decided to regenerate the old building entirely, as well as the shop space. First they sanded the existing structure such as columns and then sanded the existing wood surface, till it matched the color of new lauan plywood used for furnishings. As a result the overall space gained the refreshed appearance, in which the old and new parts are almost undistinguishable. The shop looks very modest and does not stand out by itself, but they expect to raise people’s expectation by continuously renovating more shops this way to enhance the entire street.