LOQUAT Nishiizu

The former Suzuki residence, a large mansion consisting of a main house and three storehouses in the Toi district of Nishiizu, has been loved as a central presence in the area since the Edo period. With the "value of spending time with antique beauty" in mind, we have renovated each building and the exterior into an auberge with two accommodation rooms.
The main house's layout, which had a feeling of claustrophobia, was revised to expand the space in all directions to ensure modern comfort. The three storehouses each had their own spatial individuality, and we wanted to preserve the atmosphere of the past by adding minimal concept design. Two of the buildings were renovated into accommodation buildings with luxurious outdoor baths, and the third was made to function as both a lounge and spa.
By combining it with the surrounding accommodation facilities, we have created an auberge that blends in with the local community and is beloved by the community.

[Social Issues/Customer Issues/Requests]
While Doi has long been popular as a hot spring inn town, there are few variations of restaurants, and there are no cafes that serve as sightseeing bases or tourist content that makes use of the food resources of Nishiizu. A long-standing problem has been the lack of
Rather than prioritizing business profitability, the request was that the facility should be of benefit to the region, and that it would continue to be accepted and loved by tourists and local residents.

[Solution]
We felt that it was necessary to respect the passage of time that the buildings have accumulated on this land, discover the unique character of each structure, and create a plan and concept design that would transform this into something attractive.
The floor plans were reviewed while taking into consideration the structural burden of the existing unsuitable buildings, and the character of each building was respected; for example, the main house has a deep trusswork structure, the first storehouse, which serves as a lounge, has roughly painted plastered walls, the second storehouse, which serves as the accommodation, has a dynamic one-room space, and the third storehouse has a vertical expanse of two stories and a clay wall hidden behind a wooden wall.

[Customer feedback]
Within a short delivery period, they restored the former Suzuki Residence, a representative example of Toi's history, with extremely high-quality concept design and construction techniques. As a result, it has become a place of relaxation that provides a little extra richness in daily life, attracting not only tourists visiting "LOQUAT Nishiizu" but also local residents on a daily basis.
Every day, not only the accommodation buildings but also the restaurants, bakeries, and gelaterias are bustling and either fully booked or sold out.

<Our project members>
[Sales/Project Management] Shinya Hiratsuka, Nobuyuki Yagi
[Planning] Saki Ninomiya
[design, layout] Norio Koito, Hiroshi Inoue, Tadahiro Nakajima, Ryotaro Tezuka
[Production and construction] Jun Endo, Takayuki Inoue, Nohara Kikuchi