Abiko house was original a classical Japanese house. Free standing with a garden. Build just after the second world war. With tatamis, shoojies, 2.20 height ceiling, dark, simple. Monique van Kerkhof and me modified the home to make it more open and let sunlight be our friend in many ways. We took out the ceiling and where suprised with the beauty of the beams. But we also noticed no isolation on the roof. We installed Styrofoam sheets and took out the sides of the walls above the ceiling. We replaced the walls with transparent Plexiglas so sunlight comes in in the winter and the inside of the house is warmed that way at daytime. If there is no sun or at night we heat the room with a custom made wood stove. Recently we replaced the standard tatami’s with very dark grey ones of special paper. Also we installed mirrors of Plexiglas on the walls.
