Small Japanese shops (1/300)

[Viator]

Well, I went along the Google street view to and fro but I was not able to find the same buildings as on my photographs but I found enough of similar mixed traditional-modern structures to make sure that the modern facades are often only three-sided walls + parapet walls built as curtained walls around the whole traditional loadbearing structure, so the modern part often haven't got separate roof but simply the same (traditional) roof covers the whole building (see attached images # 1 to #3) or, in some cases, the extension of the older roof was made with the same slope preserved over the modern annex (see images #4 to #6).

Blue - traditional tiled roof
Yellow - modern sheet roof
Red - parapet wall

[Viator]

Btw, the very next little shop to be built for Nekomura has the real, separate, tiled roof over the modern front part (the edges of the tiles are visible over the edge of the walls), which is unique but the whole design of this building is unique as well: its modern two-storey part is in fact a fake one. The shop is really really small and, assuming the walls thickness, the chamber on its upper floor is less than one and a half meter deep so it wasn't possible to arrange a usable space here. So, perhaps there is only an attic or some technical room on the first floor - even the windows are blind and they are only painted on the plaster in the recessions.

I will try to change the building to the full-size one but I am going to make the roof this way.

[Viator]

...and this is the result.
The masonry part was made strictly after the photograph with the assumed roof.
The wooden part was adopted from another project and simplified. The original rear part however is worthy few words more.

As you can see on the photograph of an original building, the wooden part was not especially attractive.
Its state of preservation was significantly deteriorated since Taishō period, so the owner decided to cover the wooden grating structure with OSB or plywood sheets (or something of a kind), additionally painted black. It's a pity but the state of many beautiful old wooden machiya little shops even if located in historical, tourist districts, is very poor and the remedy depends on the wealth of the owner, so the house covered with mosaic of plywood, corrugated sheets or plates, sometimes rusty, ugly and requiring quick renovation, are not a rarity.

In this case I avoided modelling it, but my next little shop will make a perfect example of such a structure.

(#81)

[Don Boose]

This is wonderful! You really captured that building.

Don

[Viator]

Taishō, continuation.

The next model is an upgrade of an original bought from Takekawa Jun-san from Paperstructures on jimdofree com site and scaled down.

I made the facade according to the original (however supplementing it with the 3D pilasters and cornices as usual and I replace the flat roof with the sloped one) and I lengthened the rear part twice to make it more realistic and to make room for more windows with shutter boxes: some of them old but still usable, some new, and -finally- some windows missing at all, proving that the rear room on the first floor is a disused shack. One of the remaining windows is even permanently covered with metal sheet.

The side walls are covered with the mix of flat and corrugated steel sheets, patched few times, and now creating a real mosaic of rectangles painted light blue, stained with multicolored streaks of rust (I made the side walls as a puzzle of few dozen separate pieces). The rear wall is still wooden but it is weathered, pale, and longing for a renovation and repainting.

The last photograph shows every Taishō period shops made as far for Nekomura diorama (in the rightmost group the middle one has a wooden traditional rear part). Now I am going to finally add one more: a representative of the old buildings of the same kind, but rescued by a modernisation with new materials.

[Viator]

The last representative of the Taishō era mixed styles machiya little shops. The old electronics store model by Takekawa-san, 1/150 rescaled to 1/300. The rear part was stretched to 175% of the original length with one extra window added on the 1st floor. Few other secondary changes were made, as recessed and "opened" (simply painted black) front doors, the 3D mailbox, the downspouts moved to the proper corners, and so on.

This building was renovated and modernized in order to save the overall architectural shape and details of elevations like boxes for shutters and canopies of the old machiya, but with modern materials. Dark wooden walls were insulated and covered with light colored plaster including the amado shutters boxes (* see below for more info), the traditional (wooden frames+muntins and paper) windows were replaced with the simple double-sash glazed windows and, finally, the formerly tiled roof was covered with the sheet metal. The masonry part didn't require the modernisation so it was cleaned and perhaps renovated. The building looks very neat and bears strong resemblance to the original, and has the internal loadbearing structure preserved, and the same for the arrangement of the rooms, hallways and stairways, but of course it could be no longer assumed as the monument of the Taishō era. But life is life: the restoration of the original wooden facades and ceramic roof would require much, much more money and the participation of workers of few vanishing professions, so the owner couldn't be blamed.

On the last photograph you can see the Sakura House, an example of such renovation, however with the traditional windows preserved.

* Most buildings dated from Edo to early Shōwa have unique features and one of them are segmented shutters amado which are specifically Japanese invention and very common in the traditional architecture. They could be closed or opened (in a whole or partially) by sliding and, when opened, they are hidden in the boxes which you can see next to most of the windows. If the window is equipped with vertical iron bars or small balconies, the shutters go between these items and the window itself. For more info see the penultimate image attachd to this post. In my model I made one of the first floor windows as closed with an amado shutter just to show you how it goes and to make the model itself more interesting.

(#83)

[Erik Zwaan]

Wow, what a beautiful set of small houses you have been creating. Impressive to see the line-up! My compliments to your skills and knowledge of the subject. Glad to have been a little bit of help .

Cheers,
Erik

[Viator]

Originally Posted by Erik Zwaan

Wow, what a beautiful set of small houses you have been creating. Impressive to see the line-up! My compliments to your skills and knowledge of the subject. Glad to have been a little bit of help .

Cheers,
Erik

You're welcome, Erik!

[Don Boose]

I am glad to learn about amado and their fittings and appurtenances. I must have seen hundreds of them over the years and never knew all this.

Don

[Viator]

And I am glad I was able to add a little shard to your vast knowledge and experience about Japan.
I look on the buildings with a civil engineer's eye so I am especially observant when it comes to various architectural and construction solutions.