Japanese design firm Case-Real have completed a boutique with two façades in an old tenement building in Oita, Japan.

The existing facade was deemed inappropriate for the boutique but could not be modified, so the designers created a second glass shop-front behind it.

The two façades are separated by a strip of dark grey pebbled flooring.

Photographs are by Hiroshi Mizusaki.

Here’s some text from the designers:

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NOTE (A boutique)

Project : NOTE (A boutique)
Design : Koichi Futatsumata (CASE-REAL)
Site : Oita, Japan
Floor area : 60㎡
“The second facade” - A project in a tenant building facing a downtown street. This district faces an external common passage and its frontage is divided in two. To keep the image  of the brands treated in the boutique and to form the image of the boutique itself, the outside wall design of this building was not appropriate. And as usual any treatment cannot be given.

A new outer wall is constructed inside of the lease line as a new shop facade.  Therefore, the earth floor ‘Doma’ becomes the outside when the shop opens even when it is in the lease division.  The new facade ran straight looking at the depth of the opening divided in two is finally, emphasizing the existence of the shop with a moderate sense of incompatibility to this space.