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      Keiji Ashizawa adds Blue Bottle Coffee shop to Kobe department store

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      Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design has created the interior of the Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Kobe’s Hankyu department store, taking advantage of its display windows to connect the cafe with the street outside.

      The 173-square-metre cafe, which shares the department store’s ground floor with a number of apparel brands, has five large display windows.
      To open the coffee shop up towards the street, designer Keiji Ashizawa turned one of the windows into a take-out counter.
      One display window was turned into a take-out counterThe remaining window niches were filled with blue built-in seating, creating a splash of colour among the wooden furniture.
      Inside the cafe, square-shaped and rectangular furniture nods to the graphic look of the facade and is contrasted by round tables and large circular ceiling lights.

      “The furniture is mainly made of domestic wood in collaboration with the Japanese furniture manufacturer Karimoku, who specializes in working with oak wood,” Ashizawa told Dezeen.
      Wooden furniture and terrazzo tabletops were used for the interiorThe studio also mixed in terrazzo amongst the wooden furniture to give the cafe a welcoming feel.
      “By placing a large terrazzo tabletop with fine textures created by mixing grounded glass into the material, it adds to the soft and welcoming atmosphere that identifies Blue Bottle Coffee and their hospitality,” Ashizawa said.

      Keiji Ashizawa builds Blue Bottle Coffee’s Tokyo outpost around volcanic-ash counter

      “It is also used for the low coffee table surrounded by the sofas, creating a sense of harmony and elegance throughout the space of the cafe,” he added.
      While the studio was unable to change the material of the existing rough concrete floor, the department store allowed it to create a discrete demarcation by polishing the floor underneath the central tables.
      Circular pendant lights were made from raw aluminiumLarge disc-shaped pendant lights add a sense of drama to the coffee shop’s pared-back design.
      “With the idea of creating a high ceiling within the space, the pendant lights were made from raw aluminum to complement the industrial structures,” Ashizawa said.
      “Six pendant lights are placed in the central space at equal distances in three zones, creating a sense of rhythm and spatial balance.”
      The concrete floor was polished in part of the cafeThe wooden furniture inside the Blue Bottle Coffe Hankyu cafe has mainly been kept in its natural colour, but Ashizawa added bright colour to some of the wood.
      “In the space with concrete structures, the yellow color was added to balance the combination of wood and concrete, and the blue color was placed as a contrast,” he said.
      “We also designed the space to fit in with the apparel brands that share the ground floor.”
      Shelves were painted a bright yellowAshizawa has previously created a number of cafes for the Blue Bottle Coffee company, including a Shanghai store decorated with traditional Chinese roof tiles and a Tokyo outpost with a volcanic-ash counter.
      The photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Keiji Ashizawa DesignProject architect: Keiji Ashizawa, Tomohiko Fujishita, Masaru KiotyaConstruction: TankDesign supervision: Miyachi Office/Kunihiko MiyachiLighting design: Aurora/Yoshiki IchikawaFurniture: Karimoku Case Study/Ichinomaki Laboratory by KarimokuMetal works: Super Robot

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      Kengo Kuma and Edition hotels create “oasis at the heart of the city” in Tokyo

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      Hospitality brand Edition has teamed up with Japanese architect Kengo Kuma to create a luxury hotel filled with plants in the Toranomon district of Tokyo, Japan.

      Occupying the upper floors of a high-rise building in the Tokyo business district of Toranomon, the 206-room hotel is the first outpost in Japan for the Edition brand, which partnered with architect Kuma on the interior design.
      The Tokyo Edition, Toranomon, features a lobby filled with plantsThe heart of the hotel is a two-storey lobby space bursting with plants, which guests arrive at after taking the elevator up to the 31st floor.
      “I wanted to prove that it was possible to create a real oasis at the heart of the big city,” Kuma told Dezeen.
      The hotel lobby features large beams covered with wooden slatsThe large, open atrium, which draws from the layout of Buddhist temples, contains a bar, restaurant and numerous different seating areas.

      The double-height space is broken up by several large beams covered with wooden slats, which also adorn the ceiling of the space.
      Wood is used throughout the hotel suites”The beams are primarily parts of the structure, but we didn’t treat them in a way that might disturb the interior,” Kuma said.
      “Rather, we took advantage of the beams, covered them with wooden louvres and elevated their existence to a symbol of the hotel.”
      Sliding partitions separate sleeping and living areas in the bedrooms and suitesThe abundant use of wood continues throughout the hotel, including the bedrooms and 22 suites, where Kuma also introduced sliding screens.
      “In traditional Japanese houses, movable partitions are often applied to enhance flexibility in the interior, and we extended the idea to the rooms at Edition,” he said.
      The Blue Room restaurant features deep blue upholsteryThe hotel largely sticks to the neutral colour palette and natural materials such as marble and wood that are characteristic of the Edition brand.
      Vibrant pops of colour have been introduced in the two restaurants, which are helmed by Michelin-starred chef Tom Aikens.
      The Jade Room restaurant features green upholsteryThe aptly named Blue Room, which occupies one side of the lobby space, features upholstery in deep hues of sapphire.
      The Jade Room, which adjoins the lobby, swaps the blue for vibrant shades of green and opens onto a verdant terrace overlooking the red-and-white Tokyo Tower landmark.
      A terrace overlooks the Tokyo Tower”It’s unusual to provide a green terrace on top of a high-rise building, but we dared to do so in order to connect the indoor and outdoor in a most natural way,” Kuma said.
      Other hotel amenities include a swimming pool, spa and conference spaces.
      The less aptly named Gold Bar, which is situated on the ground floor of the building that houses the hotel, combines black walls, floors, curtains and furniture with a white vaulted ceiling. An artwork hung above a fireplace on one side of the room is the only significant golden addition to the space.
      The Gold Bar features black walls and a white vaulted ceilingThe hotel, which opened last year, is the first of two Edition hotels planned for Tokyo, with a second hotel in the Ginza district of the city set to open soon.
      Previous Edition hotels include the West Hollywood Edition in Los Angeles designed in partnership with John Pawson and the Times Square Edition in New York City created with Yabu Pushelberg. Both hotels feature similarly plant-filled spaces.

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      The Edition brand is a partnership between Marriot International and renowned hotelier Ian Schrager, who is best known for co-founding the infamous nightclub Studio 54 in New York City in the late 1970s and 1980s.
      “I became acquainted with Ian in the 80s when I was studying in New York, and have admired his philosophy and sensitivity ever since,” Kuma said. “I believe our chemistry worked well and we could work together without much talking.”
      Black furniture and gold decorations feature in the Gold BarWhile the Tokyo Edition in Toranomon is the first Edition hotel in Japan, Japanese design has had a significant influence on Schrager’s work, according to the hotelier.
      “I have always had a spiritual connection with the approach and aesthetics of Japan,” Schrager said. “Their rationality, their simplicity, and their restraint has been the foundation of everything I’ve done.”
      “They are truly original thinkers but execute their ideas in such a humble and modest fashion,” he continued. “The end results are bold yet refined and shouts in a quiet way. It’s a sweet spot that is completely seductive for me.”

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      Bosco Sodi unveils remodelled Tokyo residence as family home and Casa Wabi extension

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      Studio Wasabi Architecture and Satoshi Kawakami Architects have created a home and artist residency in Tokyo for Mexican artist Bosco Sodi, founder of the arts foundation Casa Wabi in Mexico.

      Occupying a corner plot in the Sendagi district of Tokyo, Casa Nano 2.0 is a renovation of a postwar house constructed in the late 1950s.
      Casa Wabi founder Bosco Sodi has unveiled a home and artist residency in Tokyo”The house has a very simple facade system to protect the windows, a system called amado, where you can slide some metal windows and close them when there is a typhoon,” said Studio Wasabi co-founder Rafael Balboa.
      The 68-square-metre home has a simple facade with a gabled roof and ridges that jut out to create small awnings.

      The home renovated a post-world war two home in Tokyo”For the exterior, we only applied one material – which is called Excell Joint – so it looks similar to the original house in order to make it more natural and coherent with the neighbourhood,” said Balboa.
      Studio Wasabi worked with Satoshi Kawakami Architects to completely revamp the interiors for use as an extension of the Casa Wabi artist residency in Puerto Escondido, Mexico or as a home for founder Bosco Sodi and his wife interior designer Lucia Corredor.
      The home’s original cedar beams were maintained in the redesignAfter sponsoring 13 Mexican artists in the original Casa Nano at another location, Sodi needed more space and decided to move the residency into a larger space – Casa Nano 2.0.
      The architecture studios worked with Sodi and Corredor to open up the space, creating an open-concept kitchen, adding furniture and moving the original staircase.
      In order to open up floorplan, the architecture studio included a floating staircaseThe first floor of the two-storey, cedar-framed structure is concrete, and the second storey’s floor is made of cedar.
      The designers and construction company Washin Architects kept all of the old cedar beams and columns, as well as the windows from the original house to preserve the essence of the original building.
      The original windows were maintained”For us, it was also very important to be able to have blackout windows so we kept the original pocket metal windows of the facade of the old house to be able to close the windows completely,” explained Corredor.
      The team had to move the original staircase to open up the ground floor, so a floating steel staircase was placed against the wall at the middle of the structure, suspended from the existing beams.
      There are three living spaces on the second floor”This house, besides being part of the art residence of Casa Wabi, was designed to fit our family needs,” said Corredor.
      Storage space was another important factor in the design process, so the architecture studios created a shelf unit that hangs from the existing beams that stretch around the entire house.
      A shelving system surrounds the homeOn the second floor, three separate spaces were included to accommodate a family of five. The primary bedroom has a simple layout and connects to a small terrace.
      A central living area has a bench with a small reading nook and the seating area was furnished with a vintage French sofa from the 1950s and an old wood table from a local flea market.
      The spaces are divded by sliding panel doorsThe bunk bedroom at the end of the second floor was built for the kids or as another area spot an artist in residence and has access via a ladder to a small outdoor terrace.
      The three spaces are divided by Japanese paper sliding doors with overlaying glass thick enough to maintain privacy and let the light flow into the space.

      Read: Five Casa Wabi pavilions include Álvaro Siza ceramics studio and Kengo Kuma chicken coop

      Five Casa Wabi pavilions include Álvaro Siza ceramics studio and Kengo Kuma chicken coop

      The doors and built-in furniture as well as the ceiling of the second floor were made using Lauan wood.
      Corredor used furniture from the previous residence and items that were locally sourced to furnish the home.
      “We brought all the furniture we already had in the former Casa Nano,” she said.
      “Like our old wood table that we found in the flea market in UENO and our beloved Noguchi lamp to give warmth and light to the space.”
      The home’s exterior blends into the style of the neighbourhoodCasa Nano 2.0 will continue with its residency program, inviting four Mexican artists every year, each for a period of one month.
      “Japan has been life-changing for the artists that have been already,” Sodi said.
      “As it was for me when I was invited to an art residence in Tokyo almost 20 years ago.”
      Casa Wabi’s headquarters in Puerto Escondido was designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando and features yearly pavilions by international architects including a red brick chimney by Mexico City-based architect Alberto Kalach and a ceramics workshop by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza.
      The photography is by Nao Takahashi. 

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      Td-Atelier and Endo Shorijo Design transform interior of traditional machiya house in Kyoto

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      Japanese design studios Td-Atelier and Endo Shorijo Design have renovated a century-old machiya townhouse in Kyoto with minimal interiors that intend to honour the home’s existing architecture.

      Called House in Marutamachi, the Japanese house was built over 120 years ago and is arranged across two floors on a long and narrow site.
      House in Marutamachi is a traditional machiya house in KyotoTucked between two other residential properties, the house is an example of the wooden machiya townhouses that were once common in Japan’s historical capital Kyoto but are now at risk of going extinct.
      “Traditional Kyoto townhouses are being destroyed at a pace of 800 houses a year,” Td-Atelier explained.
      “Old buildings don’t match modern life. However, we want to stop the decline of Kyoto townhouses by fusing tradition, design and new life.”

      The kitchen is encased in a white volumeTd-Atelier and Endo Shorijo Design dressed House in Marutamachi’s interior with new components including sleek tiles and geometric furniture alongside materials reused from the original house, as seen in the traditional team room.
      The studios retained the building’s wooden columns and beams but added white volumes to house rooms including the kitchen and study to avoid disturbing the existing architecture with harsh structural materials.
      The tea room was constructed using materials reused from the original buildingThese variously sized cubes were designed to mimic the contrasting heights of buildings in a cityscape.
      “The gaps and omissions created between the volume group and the existing columns, beams, walls and floors create continuity in the space,” Td-Atelier said.

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      Throughout the house, Td-Atelier and Endo Shorijo Design adopted a minimal material and colour palette including a combination of light and dark woods alongside smooth concrete.
      A thin, sculptural light is suspended above the timber breakfast bar on the second floor, where occupants can sit on clusters of subtle-coloured stools.
      Original features were maintained in the gardenOutside, a plant-filled garden features elements from the building’s original architecture such as sandy-hued lanterns and a chōzubachi – a traditional stone water bowl historically used for washing hands before a tea ceremony.
      House in Marutamachi was shortlisted for house interior of the year at the 2022 Dezeen Awards.
      Dezeen recently announced the winners of this year’s interiors categories, who are now competing to win the overall interiors project of the year award.
      The photography is by Matsumura Kohei.

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      Fourteen Stones Design revamps Tokyo warehouse into “coffee gastronomy” cafe

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      Tokyo-based Fourteen Stones Design has designed the Koffee Mameya Kakeru cafe for barista Eiichi Kunitomo in a former water transportation hub in Kiyosumi Shirakawa.

      Set in the Kiyosumi Shirakawa area of Tokyo, the coffee shop occupies a warehouse which Fourteen Stones Design renovated and extended “to preserve the appearance of the old warehouse as much as possible”.
      Koffee Mameya Kakeru is in an old warehouseThe studio removed the shutters from the front of the warehouse, adding a glass facade. The rest of the building, including the interiors, remains as it was – with minimal repairs made to the walls.
      It aimed “to make everyday coffee an extraordinary experience” with a full “course of coffee” served by baristas and the renovation has been designed to facilitate this.
      The white oak structure frames the coffee barA staggered rectangular frame of white oak at the entrance of the cafe, which echoes the coffee package design, dominates the interior space and provides a central visual motif for the scheme.

      This frame divides the entrance space from the main cafe where a U-shaped bar surrounding the barista workstations was placed.

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      The barista’s workbenches, which were made from black granite, were deliberately placed at the centre of the space to create “a stage set-up, which enables baristas to fully demonstrate their skills”.
      Besides the new seating area, restrooms, a kitchen, a laboratory and office space have all been renovated.
      Baristas work at black granite counters
      The service and bar countertops were made from “Jura Yellow” limestone. Featuring fossils from the Jura period, it was chosen for its texture and also for allusions to the passage of time – not only echoed in the coffee growing, roasting and brewing processes but also the journey of the brand from its inception 10 years ago.
      Fourteen Stones Design’s Yosuke Hayashi designed the custom furniture for the cafe in the same white oak as the frame structure. It was manufactured by Japanese company E&Y for the project.
      The space aims to create a “gastronomic experience” for coffee drinkersThe cafe’s owner Kunitomo believes baristas “act as a bridge between the customer and the roastery” and should be given “a social status comparable to that of a sommelier”.
      Baristas at Koffee Mameya Kakeru will serve single cups of coffee through to full courses of coffee, “elevated by the newly designed space to the realm of gastronomy”, according to the practice.
      Fourteen Stones Design has been shortlisted in the restaurant and bar interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards. Other projects in the running include a rattan restaurant in Bangkok by Enter Projects Asia Co. and YODEZEEN’s Japanese restaurant in Kyiv’s city centre.
      The photography is by Ooki Jingu.

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      Ginza Ecological Map designed by Hakuten presents the “hidden story of Ginza”

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      Design studio Hakuten has created a three-dimensional map of Ginza, Tokyo, that presents the ecology that exists in the district.

      The Ginza Ecological Map, which was featured in the Japanese makeup brand Shiseido’s Hakuten’s window, was designed to “carefully express the impression of the location and the history of the city, with a hidden story of Ginza”.
      The map showcased the local ecology in the areaIt spotlighted the natural elements found throughout the district, including samples of trees, plants, insects and earth, with the intention of enhancing the local community’s knowledge of its district’s ecology. Each item was presented in one of 72 windows – similarly to how scientific specimens are exhibited in museums.
      The exhibition ran throughout 2021 and across two themes: Organisms, which presented insects and cuttings from plants, and Earth – showcasing the diversity of soils found throughout the district.
      Parts of the glothistle plant were arranged in a clock-like motif to represent the district’s Wako clock tower”We care­fully displayed this ecology in the window as if they were scientific specimens,” said Hakuten.

      “The exhibition ran throughout the year across two different ecological themes – Organisms and Earth – and brought to light a new and beautiful Ginza that had not been seen before in the form of the Ginza Ecology Map.”
      Ginkgo biloba trees were planted in Ginza in 1906The materials were collected during a number of fieldwork studies in addition to the knowledge gained from speaking to people local to Ginza. Once collected, the items were exhibited in creative ways with the aim of becoming a tool to communicate the connection between Ginza’s natural world and society.
      For example, the plant named glothistle was collected from under the city’s Wako clock tower, and as part of the exhibition was displayed in a clock-like motif to represent it.

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      In addition, the district’s ginkgo biloba trees were planted in 1906, and according to the designers, they represent a “turning point for modernisation in the city”.
      As a nod to the tree’s heritage in the district, images of Ginza’s buildings were printed onto the collected ginkgo tree leaves as part of the exhibition.
      The exhibition showcased a number of plants and insects”Unlike most window displays that show objects and installations that only suit its occasion, not only did Ginza Ecological Map provide a new perspective of Ginza city, but through research from local residents it also expanded into a communication tool between the city and the people,” said Hakuten.
      “By looking at the usually unseen ecology that exists in a metropolis, we were able to rethink the relationship between the city, people, and nature in an attempt to approach a more sustainable society.”
      Earth was collected as part of the exhibitionAs part of the Earth theme, the colour of the soil across the district was documented, including samples collected from sidewalk ditches and from around various plants such as dogwood and camellia.
      The exhibition also shed light on creating a number of creative resources from the city’s soil – including pottery and crayons – and clothing dyed using local plant’s pigments.
      The map featured in the Japanese brand Shiseido’s windowAccording to the studio, the pandemic provided the opportunity to reflect on the human-nature relationship as Ginza was “emptied” because of the pandemic.
      The project was conceived of this change, and aimed to rethink the district’s approach towards creating a society more mindful of enhancing and protecting its nature.
      The exhibition also presented the ways in which local plant pigments can be used as textile dye”In Covid-19 where we were provided with more opportunities to deeply reflect upon the global environment, this project allowed us to rethink the relationship between the city, people, and nature in an attempt to approach a more sustainable society,” said Hakuten.
      Ginza Ecological Map has been shortlisted in the exhibition design category at this year’s Dezeen Awards alongside, Weird Sensation Feels Good – The World of ASMR, Greenwood Rising: Black Wall Street History Center exhibition and Journey of the Pioneers.

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      Semba Corporation creates own office interior from reclaimed materials

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      Interior construction firm Semba Corporation has renovated the interior of its headquarters in Tokyo to include reclaimed materials discarded during the demolition of other offices.

      The company’s redesign of its own office interior is shortlisted in the sustainable interior category for the upcoming Dezeen Awards, which will announce its winners next month.
      The interior is made from materials salvaged from demolished officesCalled Semba Good Ethical Office, the project features various pared-back tables, seating and shelving created from materials salvaged from previous office demolitions.
      This furniture is positioned across a single open-plan space in Japan’s capital, which is brightly illuminated by overhead lighting and rectilinear windows.
      Plinth-like seating and stairs forms a centrepieceA plinth-like centrepiece takes the form of both a staircase and a designated desk area, which was formed from boxy arrangements of surplus wood and old filing cabinets.

      Semba Corporation centred the interiors around two principles – “ethical” and “hackable” design – in order to complete the project, the company said.
      Semba Corporation applied its own design principles to the project”To incorporate ‘ethical design’, a circular interior design [theory], into the office renovation, we mined materials from unnecessary stuff generated by office demolitions,” Semba Corporation told Dezeen.
      “Under the theme of ‘hackable design’, we can redefine our working style and attitudes. We completely renovated our office to be friendly to the Earth, people and society,” explained the firm.
      Reconstituted foam was used to create padding on benchesAccording to the company, 80 per cent of the furniture in the Semba Good Ethical Office is reused, while the office achieved a waste-recycling rate of 99 per cent.
      Reconstituted foam was used to create the padding on benches that make up informal meeting booths, while various offcuts of wood were used to construct geometric shelves throughout the interior.

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      Semba Corporation explained that it hopes that other firms will begin to adopt similar design principles when creating their office interiors.
      “Especially in Japan, the lifespan from construction to demolition and disposal has become very short since [increasing] economic growth, and waste has been dumped in landfill,” the firm said.
      “However, Japanese culture has originally valued attachment to things and has an aesthetic sense to continue to use them with creative ideas. So I think our principles have an affinity to that culture.”
      “We hope that ‘ethical design,’ a future-friendly interior design, will be a basic principle in interior design for the future.”
      Reclaimed wood was used to form various shelvingSemba Good Ethical Office joins a group of existing self-designed studios that other firms have created to be more sustainable than the average office, according to the companies.
      These include German studio Urselmann Interior’s renovation of its studio to include biodegradable, recycled or upcycled materials.
      The images are courtesy of Semba Corporation.

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      Domino Architects divides reusable sales showroom with fabric walls

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      Sheer curtains that look like translucent walls were used to divide up the structure of this temporary showroom space in Japan created by Domino Architects.

      Shortlisted in the large retail interiors category of Dezeen Awards 2022, PROUD Gallery Gotanda aims to offer a solution to the wasteful practice of producing condominium showrooms – temporary structures near new developments that are used as a base for sales teams.
      The showroom was created by Domino ArchitectsThe showrooms, which are usually built and then demolished within a matter of years once the units are all sold, typically contain a customer reception and seating area, as well as rooms for meetings and presentations. These are all styled with the target customer in mind.
      “It’s like a theme park with effects to motivate people to buy,” said the architecture studio.
      “As entertainment, it is very interesting, but we wonder if this method of spending a large amount of energy each time is really appropriate for this age.”

      Arches were constructed using mesh curtainsDomino Architects worked with HAKUTEN and Nozomi Kume from Studio Onder de Linde to create a more sustainable alternative for Nomura Real Estate Development and its PROUD condominium brand in Tokyo.
      Built using the prefabricated skeleton structure of an existing Nomura showroom, the layout of PROUD Gallery Gotanda is easy to change, expand and reconstruct.

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      The steel structure is wrapped with light curtains while the partitions inside the business meeting space are made from “foldable walls”, which are curtains with a wall-like thickness.
      These foldable walls have arched openings and can be repositioned so that the layout can be easily changed according to purpose.
      “By carefully examining the sheen, curves, and colour overlap of the curtains, we were able to create an elegant and light space that does not feel like a rugged prefabricated structure,” the studio said.
      The arches can be moved and repositionedThe materials and samples used in the planned condominiums are subtly incorporated into the interior as part of the showroom’s furniture and fixtures.
      The idea is to allow the buyer to imagine a space rather than be entirely dictated to.
      In Amsterdam, design studio Beyond Space has created an office interior in Amsterdam that uses rippling laser-cut fabric to form cave-like spaces for working.
      The photography is by Gottingham.

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