The Tatami Room Clone Conversion

I always love Japanese architecture, both the traditional styles and the modern styles that are now integrated into the International Style.

In the styles of western architecture utilized in Japan, there's always something Japanese left in the design: the Tatami Room. In all the types of buildings or structures I've observed in Japan, there's always an allocation for that private/ intimate/public/ traditional space.

I love the aesthetics and the utilization of that room. So I tried to adapt that design into the living space I am currently renting out.

Since tatami mats are not sold in the Philippines, we had to improvise. To simulate the soft rigidity of the compacted rice straw, we assembled these small, inexpensive rubber mats.

With double sided tapes, a tightly woven 'banig' is secured to the rubber mat. The banig is used in place of the Igusa (soft rush) straw. Fortunately, the banig we bought almost has that same soft texture and the sides are bordered with cloth...just like the real tatami mat.

One major feature we applied is this low Japanese style table, almost like the one used in a kotatsu...without the heater, of course. This article was a hard table to find. It took us almost 2 weeks in looking for it...and after finding one, it was the last stock.

The Final Product.

It didn't turn out as I planned it to be due to lack of resources but it did half the trick. Add a couple of seat pillows for guests and presto, a tatami room clone.