With war looming, Tateno asked Benci BENI, an Italian studying architecture at Kyoto University who was a friend of his, to remodel the private house in order to provide a place where people could talk about ideas and art freely.
戦争への足跡が聞こえる中、思想や芸術について自由に語り合える場を作ろうと、創業者の立野正一が友人のイタリア人（京大建築科の留学生ベンチ・ベニ）に改築を依頼した。