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About

Renovation that turns age into value — homes, carried forward.
We study how it is done.

YES archi LAB is an architecture firm devoted exclusively to renovation. Those who design, those who read structure, and those who lead the site are gathered in one place. For each home, we study regulation, structure, and materials, arriving at answers that allow an existing home to be carried forward to the next generation. Not scrap-and-build, but rediscovering the value already present in a home and passing it on for the long term — that is our work.

“Renovation” alone
never felt enough.

Working on a home is, by nature, profoundly layered. Listening to how the residents live, drawing the floor plan, reading the structure, verifying the law, selecting materials, and coordinating craftsmen and schedule — all of it is necessary to pass a single home to the next generation.

Yet the word “renovation” alone does not convey that depth. Merely updating fixtures, merely refreshing surfaces — being understood that way is something we have long found frustrating.

So we gave a name to our commitment to handling everything from design to construction in-house. That name is YES archi LAB. The word “lab” carries our meaning: to study, to consider, and to reach the optimal answer for each individual home.

Our Belief

The home you have today,
for the next generation.

It is often assumed that when a home grows old, one simply moves on. But a home that has been lived in with care holds the accumulated time of its family. The texture worn in by living, the view from the window, the floor plan that fits the hand — these are things a new build can never provide.

We hold dear the act of inheriting a home together with that time. Not demolishing, but drawing out its potential. Not renewing, but carrying forward — so that residents and the generation after them may go on building a life within the same home.

In-house Integration

Design, structure, construction —
unified under one roof.

To carry a home forward, the power to draw, to read, and to build must be brought together as one. We have gathered all three under one roof.

Design

We listen to how the residents live, then draw the floor plan and the materials. A certified construction management engineer is in-house and involved from the very start of the plan. Even a single line on a drawing carries the life to be lived in that home.

Structure

Read the structure

We read how the existing building is supported and discern the extent to which it can safely be altered. The older the building, the more pivotal this becomes. Which structure to keep, which walls can move — we verify this for each home.

iii

Construction

Lead the site

The construction manager coordinates craftsmen and schedule, bringing the drawings into a real home. Because those who draw and those who build are in the same place, the original intent carries through even the smallest decisions on site.

When design, structure, and construction are split across separate companies, every decision becomes a relay of messages, and intent quietly fades. “It was drawn this way in design, but turned out that way on site.” We wanted to avoid such drift. By holding all three together in-house, a single consistent eye runs through a home from first to last.

How we work

Before we build,
we research.

Working on an existing home demands far more investigation than new construction. How does this building meet today’s laws? Which materials will endure? With what feelings did the previous residents choose this home?

We divide these questions among three labs and build our knowledge home by home. What we learn serves not only the home before us, but the homes we will create next.

Materials and detail — aged timber, plaster, brass

Three Research Labs

Regulation Lab

How a home meets today’s laws when altered. We study building confirmation, legacy non-conformities, and the handling of condominium management rules for each home, seeking a path to inherit it safely.

ii.

Material Lab

Which materials to choose so a home can be carried across generations. We gather materials that deepen in character with age, along with the means to care for them — toward homes that grow more beautiful over time.

iii.

Inheritance Lab

What does it mean to pass a home to the next generation? We record the stories of residents and real examples of inheritance, and consider how homes will be carried forward.

Renovation that turns age into value — homes, carried forward.

SUMIKA ── On Carrying a Home Forward.

Flagship Series

SUMIKA

SUMIKA is our signature series: the whole-home renovation of a single dwelling so it may be carried forward to the next generation. From parent to child, and beyond. A single home lives on for decades, holding the time of its family.

It is not a preparation for endings, but a choice for the life ahead. To begin a new chapter in a familiar place. SUMIKA is work for residents such as these.

SUMIKA project — a Japanese-modern space with a courtyard

Our Studio

From our studio.

Higashi-Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku. Our workplace occupies a two-floor studio. We introduce the very place where we face each home.

1F — Reception

The ground floor that welcomes.

Open the door and a reception of greenery and soft curves welcomes you — a place where, in the moments before a meeting, the conversation about a home begins.

RECEPTION

2F — Workspace

The second floor where we think.

The second floor is the design team’s workplace. At desks framed by greenery we draw, and in a meeting room partitioned with ironwork we talk with residents. Those who draw and those who build, in the same place.

WORKSPACE

Creative Space

Creative ideas begin
from this place.

On the first floor, a custom-built space with a loft and booths for spending time as one pleases. Spaces that resist convention give rise to new ideas for the home.

2F meeting room — iron door — 2F MEETING ROOM — IRON DOOR

Entrance — iron arch door — ENTRANCE — IRON ARCH

Company Profile

Studio

YES archi LAB

Company

YES REFORM Co., Ltd.（yes-reform Co.,Ltd）

Representative

Naoki Saito

Founded

April 17, 2012

Capital

JPY 5,000,000

Address

[Head Office] Ouchi Bldg. 1F/2F, 1-3-9 Higashi-Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0004
[Branch] 13-1 Nihonbashi-Hisamatsucho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0005

Tel / Fax

TEL 03-6667-0781 ／ FAX 03-6667-0782

Mail

support@yes-archi-lab.com

URL

https://www.yes-reform.co.jp/

Business

Renovation of detached houses and apartments / Design and construction for retail and offices

Hours

9:00–18:00 (Closed Sundays and during the New Year holidays)

Insurance

Comprehensive liability insurance

License

Construction Business License: Tokyo Governor License (Gen-5) No. 149028
Real Estate Broker License: Tokyo Governor (1) No. 107943
Major Repair Defect Insurance Provider, Registration No. A0305518

Qualifications

Supervising Engineer, MLIT No. 1200681 (Naoki Saito)
1st-class Plumbing Works Construction Management Engineer, MLIT No. 21002431 (Naoki Saito)
Gas Appliance Installation Supervisor
Asbestos-Containing Building Material Investigator No. 22109102
Home Renovation Expert / Remodeling Adviser, Reg. No. 243307

Legal Counsel

Toranomon College Law Office — Ryuichi Fukuhara

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