Japanese Philosophy Reshapes Norwegian Family Villa

The home, located in the peaceful residential area of Grefsen, has lived several lives over the years. In the early 1900s, it housed an organ workshop. When Mathilde and Johan Blichfeldt Mjønes tore out the old kitchen, they discovered stacks of dried-out papers hidden between the beams.

Strange stories always turn up in old houses. Here we have many of them, says Johan Blichfeldt Mjønes. The couple wanted the house to pull them more toward each other, and the solution emerged from Japanese housing philosophy.