Tsumiki Design & Construction
Ichikawa, Japan

Services offered

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Making Together

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Philosophy & Pedagogy

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Renovation Workshop

6Ōtaki, Chiba
2019

3 Step House

11Kurame, Tokyo2018

ANDON

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Nihonbashi-Honcho, Tokyo
2017

Insulation workshop

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Minami-Boso, Chiba, Japan2019

textile pattern designed by Tsumiki’s Naoko Natsume

About Tsumiki

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About the Author

292Tsumiki Architects offers clients the opportunity for meaningful participation in the design and renovation of theirhome or business. Our mission is to share the joy and learning experiences involved in “tomoni tsukuru” (making together) with all
the stakeholders of a project. We specialize in creating a workflow that balances timely project completion, diverse skill-building forparticipants, high-quality craftwork, and fresh contemporary aesthetics.

first meeting

design proposal

DIY construction

continuing our relationship

Interested in DIY renovation? We invite

After our initial conversation, we’ll develop

After we arrive at the right design for

After the renovation is complete, you’ll be

you to come and talk with us, free of charge,

a proposal for you. In our second meeting,your budget, we’ll draw up a construction

part of the Tsumiki DIY alumni community!

regarding renovation possibilities for yourwe’ll look at these initial drawings and talkcontract, and the renovation will begin.

We like to keep in touch with our past clientshome or business. We’ll get to know eachabout the labor involved. You’ll have theWe’ll distribute renovation tasks between

and hear about how the renovation hasother, introduce you to our previous projects,

chance to take our proposal home with you

you and our team of professionals dependingimproved their lives. We hold events for theand learn about your lifestyle and businessand give it some thought. If you decide toon your schedule, interests, and skills.

small business owners in our community topractices.

proceed with our services, we’ll draw up aThrough participating in carpentry, painting,showcase their beautiful new spaces.

contract and start designing.

plastering and cleaning, you’ll be connectedto the renovation process.

3ともにつくるThis concept is the gravity that drew the members of Tsumiki Design &Construction into orbit around each other, and it continues to attract both local
clients and international colleagues to their office. Each member of Tsumiki has
had their own formative experience in the world of design, through which they
defined their intention to pursue a design career that celebrates and promotes

tomoni tsukuru

the joyful human interaction that can occur around the act of making. For eachmember of Tsumiki, this began first as a feeling, and grew into a concept andfinally a philosophy of practice.

making together

Prioritizing a joyful, meaningful making experience at every step in the processof renovating a building results in a complex set of constraints that must be
applied to labor management, as well as to design details. As tomoni tsukuru isboth process and product for Tsumiki, they have developed a unique project
management system to manage experiential and learning outcomes for each DIY
renovation participant.

Tsumiki believes that, in the same way as the tomoni tsukuru ethic has drawn
them together as an architecture office, it has the power to bring people together
within neighborhoods and cities.

4Philosophy & pedagogy
Tsumiki is quietly emphatic that the process of making something together with others is often as valuable - if not more valuable - than the product that is made.
This philosophy lies at the heart of their proposition to clients. Tsumiki attracts clients who want to get their hands dirty. A Tsumiki client comes to understandthat renovation is an opportunity to de-alienate themselves from their home or storefront, to experience how all the bits come together. They come to Tsumiki
because they’re seeking a partner and guide in the act of getting to know their own building and changing it for the better.

Tsumiki views the process of residential and commercial renovation as one that, if carefully and thoughtfully managed, can provide the client with an improved
environment, a new and useful set of skills, and a third, harder to define benefit: the happiness found in the act of tomoni tsukuru, or “making together.” To
this end, Tsumiki continues to refine their unique method of project management, organizing the construction process to serve a more complex conception ofexcellence - excellence in the finished product, and also excellence in the process of executing the product, so that an unskilled laborer can participate in many
phases of construction without reducing the level of craft or slowing the work down to a crawl.

Drawing sets for each project are augmented to orchestrate the different phases and zones of client participation. Renovation projects also serve as a site forhands-on workshops, open to the public, which serves the double benefit of expanding the amount of people able to develop skills, as well as providing a burst oflabor to help the project along.

Due to the time spent making things together, Tsumiki remains in close contact with past clients. Strong relationships are formed during the renovation process,and, once complete, clients become Tsumiki “alumni.” For some, this association is in the form of a regional collective of small businesses that may offer eachother mutual aid. The homes and businesses of Tsumiki alumni also serve as a showcase of what’s possible through a DIY-centered process.

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