Kyoto's historic townhouses, machiyas, are increasingly being renovated and turned into everything from hotels to perfume stores. Here, we collect five of the best examples. More about Five carefully renovated machiya houses in Kyoto
Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design has created the Toune holiday home in a 120-year-old machiya, preserving its original layout and the "sense of time embedded within the building" while giving it a contemporary update. More about Keiji Ashizawa creates holiday home within historic machiya
The unique "rhythm and progression" of Japanese machiya townhouses helped Brewin Design Office devise the interiors of this hotel in Kyoto designed by Kengo Kuma. More about Traditional wooden townhouses inform interiors of Kengo Kuma-designed Capella Kyoto hotel
Japanese design firm Studio Aluc "deliberately retained traces of past craftsmanship" to transform a historic machiya residence into a short-stay hotel in Kyoto. More about Studio Aluc turns 100-year old Kyoto townhouse into hotel
Interiors firm UNC Studio has transformed a traditional wooden house in Kyoto into a Japanese-Mexican fusion cafe and eatery with a bold, all-red interior. More about Challe cafe in Kyoto fuses Mexican and Japanese design
Charred-cedar shingles cover the chimney-shaped form of this micro tearoom in Japan, designed by local studio 2m26 in collaboration with French practice Onomiau. More about Shingle-covered tea room for one sits in Kyoto mountains
A thick thatched roof topped with purple iris flowers shelters this timber sheep pen in Kyoto, Japan, which has been designed by local architecture practice 2m26. More about Purple flowers crown thatched sheep pen in Japan by 2m26
The "ethereal beauty" of classical Japanese Noh theatre informed Kengo Kuma and Associates' design for the Banyan Tree hotel in Kyoto, with a dedicated stage hidden in its stepped gardens. More about Kengo Kuma embellishes Kyoto hotel with timber-skeleton theatre stage
Tokyo studio Schemata Architects has combined Japanese and Western designs inside a traditional wooden townhouse in Kyoto to create a store for perfumery brand Le Labo. More about Schemata Architects transforms 145-year-old townhouse into Le Labo flagship
2050 Coffee is a minimalist self-service coffee shop in Kyoto designed to raise awareness about sustainability issues surrounding the future of the drink. More about Teki Design creates Kyoto cafe as hub to "learn about the future of coffee"
Japanese studios Td-Atelier and Endo Shorijo Design have transformed a townhouse in Kyoto into a noodle restaurant that combines traditional residential details with modern geometric interventions. More about Soba restaurant Kawamichiya takes over century-old townhouse in Kyoto
Japanese practice G Architects Studio used soy sauce and ammonium chloride to rapidly oxidise the copper cladding of this coffee stand in Kyoto, giving certain areas a distinctive blue-green finish. More about G Architects Studio clad Kyoto coffee stand in rapidly oxidised copper
Kyoto-based architecture and design studio 2m26 has created a compact, movable restaurant from locally-sourced Hinoki cypress timber. More about 2m26 references traditional food carts for mobile all-in-one ramen restaurant
Traditional Japanese joinery in cypress and cedar has been used to construct this stable near Kyoto, Japan, which was designed by architecture studio 2m26 to "connect humans, horses and nature". More about Umagoya stable in Kyoto features traditional Japanese carpentry
Designer Keiji Ashizawa has created the interior of Japanese furniture brand Karimoku's second showroom, which features a combination of its own wooden furniture and pieces by local artists and artisans. More about Karimoku opens Kyoto showroom informed by traditional houses and temple gardens
Japanese design studios Td-Atelier and Endo Shorijo Design have renovated a century-old machiya townhouse in Kyoto with minimal interiors that intend to honour the home's existing architecture. More about Td-Atelier and Endo Shorijo Design transform interior of traditional machiya house in Kyoto
Japanese architect Tadao Ando has transformed a building that was once home to video game giant Nintendo into a boutique hotel. More about Nintendo's former HQ to reopen as hotel designed by Tadao Ando
Architecture studio Kengo Kuma and Associates has built a pavilion with a textile roof supported by bamboo stalks on the grounds of a temple in Kyoto, Japan. More about Kengo Kuma creates pavilion supported by live bamboo at Kyoto temple
Japanese practice Fumihiko Sano Studio has incorporated local craft and traditional materials into the Hishiya restaurant and guesthouse in Fukichiyama, Kyoto, which occupies a renovated 20th-century folk house, or minka. More about Fumihiko Sano Studio converts Japanese minka into guesthouse and restaurant
Japanese-Australian architecture studio Atelier Luke has renovated an old Kyoto row house, giving the narrow home a black-stained timber ceiling to create "a spacious void of shadows". More about Dark roof brings loftiness to small Kyoto terrace house