A 400-year-old ceramics studio in Japan has completely remodeled their store with a most remarkable addition: a walkable surface constructed from a stack of tens of thousands of scrapped pieces of crockery.

Yusuke Seki (photos by Takumi Ota) collected plates, saucers, bowls and cups for this creative endeavor, all to create a display platform for Maruhiro Ceramics in Hasami, Nagasaki.

To facilitate a more intimate experience, a pair of stairs is placed by the display platform, allowing visitors to walk up and peruse wares, all while enjoying a sense of wonder from the layers of history right beneath their feet.

Traditionally, flawed ceramics are simply thrown into dedicated landfills, while this rethought application brings pieces of history back up to the surface.

Since the discards are eliminated before the coloring and glazing process, there is an aesthetic consistency to the materials reused in this creative context.

Individually fragile, the tableware was turned into modular bricks by being filled with concrete, but their individual shapes and sizes still made this a daunting endeavor to actually deploy. Still, the result is compelling and interactive – not so much of a crackpot idea after all, as it turns out.

A beautiful and boldly open design, this see-through structure uses glass to reveal (and staggered layers to conceal) different parts of the everyday lives of its occupants.

Designed by architect Yuusuke Karasawa for a medium-density city lot in Tokyo, the snakelike S House relies on upper layers, underground areas and limited walls to create privacy where required or desired.

The split-level approach replaces corridors with staircases and serves to section off parts of the interior without creating excessive walls, all reinforcing the overall openness of the design (reminiscent of Modernist masters including Mies van der Rohe, Philip Glass and Le Corbusier).

Primarily white, limited wood accents are added and the neighborhood becomes a kind of passive decor, its textures visible from almost any area of the interior.

Partly, the design plays on a cultural element of respect for personal space found in Japan – prying eyes are not something to be worried about.

Nonetheless, the master bedroom and bathroom are located on the level below ground, and a rooftop deck also affords a higher degree of seclusion when needed.