A glazed facade reveals the two-storey interior of a house-shaped hair salon by Japanese firm Ryo Matsui Architects in Chiba, Japan (+ slideshow).

Ryo Matsui Architects designed the Hairdo beauty salon with a simple interior of plain white walls and timber surfaces, leaving roof trusses and other structural elements exposed.

Located next to Chiba's train station, the salon's transparent frontage allows pedestrians to look straight through and see what's happening on both floors of the building.

"The big glass facade viewed from the frontal road raises the internal aspect and contributes a sense of unity," the architects explained.

Glass entrance doors lead into a reception and waiting area that occupies the front half of the ground floor.

A row of mirrors and chairs are fixed down the side of the far wall, while a shampoo and colour area is tucked away at the rear along with a small courtyard.

Upstairs, a styling area covers much of the large open-plan space, with a staff room and extra shampoo area towards the back.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Here's a project description from the architects:

Hairdo hair salon

This salon is located in the prefectural road in front of Chiba Station where a monorail comes and goes.

We planned the two-story hair salon. In a condition called the ten years fixed-term land leasehold, it is required the coexistence as an intelligent architecture and effective interior.

In the big roof covering the second floor as a main, it is made from a gabled roof-shaped by the warren truss with a light steel frame.

It is matched up steel materials as thin as possible, for example chord members of 60×60mm, lattices of 40×40mm, and roof purlins of 60×30mm.

The contrast of the structure painted white and sheathing boards, applying to the furniture and fixtures, let them fused their visual expression.

The facade of the big glass viewed from the frontal road, raises the internal aspect contributed a sense of unity.

In restrictive temporal axis, it is expected that the salon is integrated into as a picture frame of the city to contribute to local activation.

Building Site: Chiba-shi, Chiba
Principal Use: Hair salon
Architect: Ryo Matsui Architects Inc.
Structural Design: Ryo Kuwako
Construction: Nichinan Iron Corporation
Site Area: 141.99 m² Shampoo Area
Architectural Area: 106.7 m²
Total Floor Area: 220.8 m²
1st Floor Area: 113.41 m²
2nd Floor Area: 106.67 m²
Structure: Steel construction