A lounge
A warm room with daylight and comfortable seating, for conversation or for reading alone with company nearby.
Spaces designed for company and for quiet
The rooms and gardens we are drawing up around the homes. They are plans on paper: not yet built, opened or inspected.
Illustrations, not photographs. The pictures on this page show the kind of space we have in mind. Some of them include water or hills; whether the real site has either is not settled. We will publish real drawings and photographs when they exist.
Rooms we are planning
A dining room
A place to eat together. Whether meals are provided, by whom and at what price is not decided, and we will say so before anyone relies on it.
A library corner
Shelves, a long table and good light. We would start with books residents bring with them.
A games room
Cards, board games and perhaps a table for billiards: somewhere for friendly rivalry and noise.
An exercise room
Light equipment and floor space for stretching and balance work. It would be a room for activity, not a medical facility.
A hall for talks and music
A modest hall for a visiting speaker, a choir or a film evening. Size and fittings depend on budget and permits.
Outdoors
Gardens and places to sit
Garden paths
Planted beds with level paths wide enough to walk side by side, and benches where people stop to talk.
A walking path
A loop on easy ground with places to rest. Its length and surface depend on the land we end up with.
A terrace
A sheltered place to sit outside, if the site allows one with a good outlook.
A quiet courtyard
A small enclosed garden for sitting still. It would be a place of calm, not a programme.
Open-air steps
Stepped seating for summer evenings: a concert, a talk or simply the sunset.
A scented garden bed
Plants chosen for colour and fragrance, along a path with a bench. We make no health claims for it.
Design intentions
Spaces that are easy to use
These are aims for the design, not claims about a finished building.
Step-free routes
Level or gently sloped paths between the homes and the shared rooms.
Clear signs
Large lettering and strong contrast, placed where people actually pause.
Rails and seats
Handrails where steps are unavoidable, and somewhere to sit at frequent intervals.
Quiet corners
Rooms and nooks where conversation does not have to compete with noise.
A real building must meet Japan's building and accessibility rules, including the Barrier-Free Act. We will show the actual drawings, and what they comply with, once they exist, rather than claim a standard in advance.
Shared meals
Food, and what is undecided
Good meals are a large part of a good day, and we would like to offer them. Today we cannot say who would cook, how often meals would be served, or what they would cost. Running a kitchen for others also brings food-hygiene obligations that we would need to meet first.
If meals are offered, we would want them to take account of allergies and dietary needs, and we would set the arrangements out in writing.
Ask us
Would you use these spaces?
Tell us which rooms and gardens matter most to you, and which you would not miss.