A while back, we wrote about Fraher & Findlay‘s inspired update of a Georgian home. Today, we’re sharing another project, a renovation of an old Victorian in Hackney, London, featuring a Japanese-inspired tsubo-niwa.
Tsubo is a unit of measure equal to the area of two tatami mats (about 3.3 square meters); niwa means garden. As a compound word, it describes a small courtyard garden—and that’s precisely what was added to the property to connect a new rear addition to the original building.
Inserting a classically Japanese feature into a classically European house may seem like an odd mismatch, but it somehow works—and nowhere is this more apparent than in the kitchen and dining areas.
Let’s take a tour.
Photography by Adam Scott, courtesy of Fraher & Findlay.
![the kitchen and dining room are housed in the new rear extension of the home. t 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/fraher-findlay-tsubo-house-kitchen6-733x694.jpg)
![the cabinets were custom made by the joinery experts at oblique furniture in lo 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/fraher-findlay-tsubo-house-kitchen9-733x1099.jpg)
![the backyard is on the other side of the kitchen, directly across from the tsub 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/fraher-findlay-tsubo-house-kitchen3-733x489.jpg)
![an above the counter narrow ledge and ridged glass upper cabinets allow for par 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/fraher-findlay-tsubo-house-kitchen4-733x1099.jpg)
![a steel and glass door opens into the interior courtyard. 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/fraher-findlay-tsubo-house-kitchen5-733x489.jpg)
![the view from the tsubo niwa into the kitchen. the door is by josko. \2\ 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/fraher-findlay-tsubo-house-kitchen13-733x993.jpg)
![a built in bench in the lofted area cleverly transitions into a kitchen peninsu 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/fraher-findlay-tsubo-house-kitchen7-733x489.jpg)
![a glass and brass atelier areti row pendant light is a glamorous touch. 26](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/fraher-findlay-tsubo-house-kitchen11-733x1070.jpg)
![\2\20;it feels like a quiet force, providing life energy to the house. i 27](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/fraherfindlay_tsubohouse_adamscott_01.jpg)
![\2\20;the internal spaces were to feel textured, calm, and lived in; as 29](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/fraher-findlay-tsubo-house-kitchen8-733x489.jpg)
![in a home that celebrates smooth transitions and meaningful connections, natura 30](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/fraher-findlay-tsubo-house-kitchen14-733x710.jpg)
For more kitchens with access to outdoor space, see:
- Kitchen of the Week: A London Architect’s Sky-Lit Compact Kitchen
- Kitchen of the Week: A Laid-Back Courtyard Kitchen Where ‘Family Life Unfolds’
- Kitchen of the Week: A Scandi Blonde Wood Design in Bed-Stuy, Garden Included
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