Jonathan Hasegawa is a hotel where guests can enjoy the experience of ‘staying in the city’ of Okayama. Located in an area surrounded by various cultural facilities including museums, it also offers views overlooking Korakuen –one of the three great gardens of Japan– across the Asahi River.
This hotel was designed so as to imitate the shape of the private houses that had originally occupied its place. Two buildings that separately stood on the site are reproduced, with a new building inserted in-between. These three buildings come together to form a single guest room.
The bedroom has a calm atmosphere with its low ceiling, while there is a porch-like entrance that is integrated with the garden, and a bathroom reminiscent of an observatory with panoramic views of Korakuen gardens.
Guests are able to experience the city while staying in the hotel and going to and fro between these three spaces with completely different personalities, from feeling the natural light shining through the gaps between the roofs, to climbing up and down the stairs and looking up at the window across the roof from a low position / overlooking the city from a high position, and sitting back in the gaps between the buildings to relax and feel the bustle of the city.
The building has been designed in collaboration with Berlin-based artist Jonathan Monk. Monk is known for producing works through imitating the creations of existing artists as well as social matters, and further reinterpreting their value and originality. Drawing inspiration from this approach, this hotel is made so as to reinterpret the preexisting shape of the city, proposing a means of accommodation that enables each guest to discover new appeals that the city of Okayama has to offer.
Go Hasegawa
GO HASEGAWA AND ASSOCIATES
Jonathan Hasegawa is a hotel where guests can enjoy the experience of ‘staying in the city’ of Okayama. Located in an area surrounded by various cultural facilities including museums, it also offers views overlooking Korakuen –one of Japan’s three most celebrated gardens– across the Asahi River.
This hotel was designed so as to imitate the shape of the private houses that had originally occupied its place. Two buildings that separately stood on the site are reproduced, with a new building inserted in-between. These three buildings come together to form a single guest room.
The bedroom has a calm atmosphere with its low ceiling, while there is a porch-like entrance that is integrated with the garden, and a bathroom reminiscent of an observatory with panoramic views of Korakuen gardens. Guests are able to experience the city while staying in the hotel and going to and fro between these three spaces with completely different personalities, from feeling the natural light shining through the gaps between the roofs, to climbing up and down the stairs and looking up at the window across the roof from a low position / overlooking the city from a high position, and sitting back in the gaps between the buildings to relax and feel the bustle of the city.
The building has been designed in collaboration with Berlin-based artist Jonathan Monk. Monk is known for producing works through imitating the creations of existing artists as well as social matters, and further reinterpreting their value and originality. Drawing inspiration from this approach, this hotel is made so as to reinterpret the preexisting shape of the city, proposing a means of accommodation that enables each guest to discover new appeals that the city of Okayama has to offer.
The idea of working with a Japanese architect on a new building was very exciting for me.
But I did not want to simply be the artist within this collaboration – I wanted to be or at least act as an architect… I think or hope I’ve done that. Every part of the project developed from last… ideas moved slowly and occasionally very quickly forwards and each one left a small or large mark.
The collaboration with Go worked beautifully and we easily agreed on a form and slowly a function.
We are still developing even when we’re finished…
Jonathan Monk
The idea of working with a Japanese architect on a new building was very exciting for me.
But I did not want to simply be the artist within this collaboration – I wanted to be or at least act as an architect… I think or hope I’ve done that. Every part of the project developed from last… ideas moved slowly and occasionally very quickly forwards and each one left a small or large mark.
The collaboration with Go worked beautifully and we easily agreed on a form and slowly a function.
We are still developing even when we’re finished…
Jonathan Monk
Photos by: Yoko Inoue
FLOOR PLAN
