Casa Nano 2.0, Casa Wabi artist residency, Sendagi, Tokyo

Casa Wabi’s Home in Tokyo

Casa Nano 2.0 is a redesigned late 1950s house on a corner plot in Sendagi, Bunkyo City, Tokyo—the second location of the Tokyo arm of Fundación Casa Wabi, the non-profit arts foundation founded in 2014 by Mexican artist Bosco Sodi and interior designer Lucia Corredor. The renovation was led by Studio Wasabi Architecture (a Tokyo practice co-founded by Rafael Balboa, who also serves as Casa Nano's director), working with Satoshi Kawakami Architects and construction company Washin Architects. The 68-square-meter, cedar-framed structure was published in Dezeen in November 2022.

Bosco Sodi had sponsored 13 Mexican artists through the original Casa Nano. When more space became necessary, he found this late 1950s house in Sendagi and asked Studio Wasabi to redesign it. The home is both an artist residency that hosts four Mexican artists each year, and a home for Sodi, Corredor, and their family.

The approach was conservative by design. The exterior was redone with Excell Joint cladding, a material that blends naturally with the surrounding neighborhood. The original cedar beams and columns were retained alongside the amado metal pocket windows and typhoon-shuttering system integral to the 1950s house. The original staircase was moved to open up the ground floor, and replaced with a floating steel staircase suspended from the existing beams against the wall. Wraparound shelving runs the perimeter of the upper level, and the floor is concrete on the first story, cedar on the second.

The interior was furnished by Lucia Corredor, co-founder of interior design firm and vintage furniture studio Década Muebles. Corredor incorporated pieces from the previous Casa Nano, including a wood table found at a flea market in Ueno and a Noguchi lamp. Paper sliding doors layered with glass divide rooms throughout the ground floor. The shelving system that wraps around the upper level maximizes storage within the home's 68-square-meter footprint.

Layout

This vacation home for rent in Tokyo sleeps up to four guests across two bedrooms. The ground floor is open-plan: the kitchen and workspace are anchored by exposed cedar beams, there is a floating steel staircase against the wall, and paper-and-glass sliding doors divide the space. The first-floor material is concrete while the second story is cedar throughout. The upper level holds the sleeping quarters, living area, reading nook, bunkroom, and an outdoor terrace reachable by ladder. The wraparound shelving system runs the perimeter of the upper floor, hung from the original beams.

• Bedroom 1: King bed, upper level

• Bedroom 2: 2 single tatami mat beds, upper level

• 1 bathroom

Good to know

Casa Nano 2.0 is a working artist residency, and four Mexican artists are hosted here each year for one month each. Rental availability is organized around the residency program calendar. The upper terrace is reached by ladder. Children are permitted. Pets are not permitted. Smoking is not allowed. Photoshoots are not permitted. Events are not permitted.

Amenities & services

Fully equipped kitchen, heating, open-plan ground-floor workspace, wraparound shelving, amado typhoon-resistant sliding windows, outdoor terrace (upper level, ladder access), paper-and-glass sliding doors

Around

Tokyo's Sendagi district is a primarily residential part of the city, a neighborhood within the greater Yanesen district, where the old shitamachi spirit is said to linger. Shitamachi generally refers to the area southeast of the Imperial Palace and describes a part of town that thrived in the Edo period, giving visitors an authentic taste of Tokyo's past. Many Buddhist temples occupy the neighborhood, but in recent years, art galleries and ateliers have moved in.

There's also a popular outdoor shopping street, Yanaka Ginza, where traditional buildings house street food stations, pottery shops and shrines. The Yanaka Ginza is most famous, though, for its felines. Cats, both real and ceramic, are abundant in the tightly packed streets which lead to Yanaka cemetery, famed for its sakura trees, Tokyo's celebrated cherry blossoms. The Nezu Shrine, a series of vivid red buildings surrounded by lush blooming azaleas, dates from 1705, and is often referred to as Tokyo's most beautiful Shinto shrine.

One of Tokyo's original wooden houses is in the neighborhood and open to visitors. The Old Yasuda house was built traditionally in 1919, zigzagging across its narrow lot and rising two stories. Also worth a visit, the senbei shop Kikumi Senbei Sohonten was established in 1875. Discover an Edo-era candy craft and performance art tradition called Ame-zaiku Yoshihara at an atelier of the same name in the area, where artists create cute figures from mizu-ame gum on demand. The performance artist/candy-makers were once a fixture at festivals and are today part of a return to Tokyo's classic traditional arts.