Works#Conversion

As a hotel that introduces "Kyoto Toji Temple" in an easy-to-understand manner that cannot be fully enjoyed in a one-time sightseeing trip, the little-known Buddha statue mandala is illustrated, and you can walk around the city freely opening and closing while comparing the old and the modern. In the lobby, we installed a map, a large table where you can copy sutras with sand, and a wall artwork of Buddha smiling with a motion sensor. In addition, the full-size pillar with a motif of a five-storied pagoda was used as a bookshelf to impart wisdom because the actual central pillar itself is a mandala.

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 ancient beauty" in mind, we renovated each building and exterior structure to create an auberge with two accommodation rooms. The main house's closed-in layout was revised to expand the space up, down, left and right to ensure modern comfort. We wanted to preserve the atmosphere of the past by taking advantage of the spatial individuality of each of the three storehouses and adding minimal concept design, so we renovated two of them into accommodation buildings with luxurious outdoor open-air baths, and one of them functions as a lounge and spa. By combining it with the surrounding accommodation facilities, we have realized an auberge that blends into the local community and is loved by everyone. [Social issues / Customer issues / Requests] Toi has long been popular as a hot spring inn town, but there is a small variety of restaurants, and there are no cafes that serve as tourist bases or tourist content that makes use of Nishiizu's food resources, so the lack of tourist spending by tourists has been a long-standing issue. The company's request was that the development of this facility should not be prioritized for profitability, but rather for it to be beneficial to the region, and that it should be accepted and loved by tourists and local residents alike. [Solution] We felt that we needed to respect the time that the buildings had accumulated on this land, find the unique character of each building, and create concept design that could transform it into an attractive feature. We reviewed the layout while taking into consideration the structural burden of the existing unsuitable buildings, and respected the unique character of each building, such as the deep trusswork of the main building, the roughly painted plastered walls of the first storehouse, which served as a lounge, the dynamic one-room space of the second storehouse, and the vertical expanse of the second storehouse with its clay walls hidden behind the wooden walls. By respecting the unique character of each building, it became the very charm of each facility. [Customer's comments] As a result of the extremely high-quality concept design and construction techniques used to renovate the former Suzuki residence, which represents the history of Toi, in a short delivery period, not only tourists who come to "LOQUAT Nishiizu" but also local residents visit the facility almost every day, and it has become a place of relaxation that provides a little richness in their daily lives. Not only the accommodation building, but also the restaurant, bakery and gelateria are busy and full to capacity every day. <Our project members> [Sales/Project Management] Shinya Hiratsuka, Nobuyuki Yagi [Planning] Saki Ninomiya [design, layout] Norio Koito, Hiroshi Inoue, Tadahiro Nakajima, Ryotaro Tezuka [Production/ construction] Jun Endo, Takayuki Inoue, Nohara Kikuchi

This project involved converting the old Kiyomizu Elementary School building, which has a history of about 90 years and remains in Kiyomizu, Kyoto, into a hotel. It has been reborn as a hotel that combines modern comfort while retaining its distinctive design. We were in charge of architectural design supervision, interiors design, layout, and FF&E concept design and construction. Kiyomizu Elementary School is one of the schools that has been evaluated as a unique building with unique features in its location, exterior decoration, and interiors concept design. Based on the hotel's concept of "engraving memories and connecting them to the future," we paid the utmost respect to the historical Western architecture and its interior space, and concept design to revive memories while preserving and inheriting them. In addition, we fused the architecture and interior space as new functions to express nostalgia and newness. [Client's Issues/Requests] It was necessary to design it so that it would function as a hotel while making use of the architecture of the existing historic elementary school. We also had to have repeated discussions about what kind of hotel would be acceptable to the Kyoto area. [Solution] We worked with creators on every detail, including architecture, landscape, interior, FF&E, artwork, graphics, and uniforms, to create a completely new and unique space. While the corridors and staircases where elementary school children once ran around have been preserved, when you open the doors to the classrooms where the children once studied, you will enter a completely different contemporary world. In order to maximize the value of the existing details that are valuable in the history of the architecture and interior space, we stuck to materials that do not overshadow but highlight them. The reflection of the materials reflected in the semi-gloss finish enhances the existing architectural design. We aimed to create a spatial composition with a "seeming" that can only be experienced here, by coordinating the total design of concept design, graphics, uniforms, etc., and harmonizing the interiors and FF&E concept design in a well-balanced way. <Our project members> [Sales/Project management] Toru Moenuki [design, layout / design supervision] A.N.D.: Ryu Kosaka, Shohei Urata, Hiroki Yasuda / Hiroyuki Nishikawa [FF&E concept design] A.N.D.: Kaori Sano

In March 2021, NOMURA, Ltd. opened a new office in the Daiba Garden City Building adjacent to its headquarters (Odaiba, Tokyo) that is suited to the new normal era. The company aims to encourage employees to communicate and demonstrate greater creativity while taking advantage of the diverse work styles and values of NOMURA Group. In 2019, the NOMURA Group launched a group company base consolidation project with the aim of creating an environment in which employees can work together and demonstrate greater synergy. In response to the changes in work styles and social issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company set three keywords, "health," "experiment," and "brand," and explored the nature of real office space in the new normal era to create "future work styles." - We believe that the function of the office in the new normal era will change from a "workplace" to an "innovative space that induces communication," where diverse human resources from inside and outside the company gather and actively exchange opinions and have chance encounters that are unique to the real world. Therefore, the communication space "RESET SPACE_2" was designed with the concept of "Unique Park" and was planned as a park-like space that any employee can use to suit their diverse and unique work styles. 100% fairwood is used. ・CONFERIUM is a proposal for a new conference room area, and is an attempt to "displays the behavior of working styles" that proactively shows unique meetings. The know-how used in displays spaces was applied to office spaces, such as darkening the common corridors to highlight the conference rooms as displays. ・Group addresses were adopted in the creative work area. In addition, the creative floor allows concept design work to be done while keeping in mind the "sense of concept design" such as the sense of scale and texture of materials, which are great strengths when concept design. By clarifying the purpose, it became a low-cost and sophisticated space. This project was planned, designed, construction, and operated by NOMURA Group.

Shou-kan was built in 1892 in Nishikatamachi, Hongo-ku, Tokyo, as part of the residence of Count Abe, the former feudal lord of the former Fukuyama domain. In 1971, Tokio Kasuga, founder of Green Stamp Co., Ltd., relocated and restored it to Karuizawa, where it has been used as a memorial hall for the Green Stamp Karuizawa dormitory. In 2020, Shou-kan was renovated at the same time as the new annex as a retreat facility for both Green Stamp Co., Ltd. and Kenedix, Inc. We were responsible for the design and interior administration of the Shou-kan renovation, including seismic retrofitting, as well as the installation of FF&E for the entire facility. [Social Issues / Customer Issues / Requests] Various extensions and renovations have been made since the original relocation, and the only connection to the annex was via a corridor, which caused structural stress and led to subsidence. The entire facility was aging, and the Shoyukan was difficult to use in winter due to Karuizawa's climate, and although it was originally designed with tatami mats, its use had decreased due to changes in Japanese lifestyles. However, they wanted to renovate it while preserving as much of its original appearance as possible. [Solution] After investigating the Shoyukan, they restored it to its original simple form as much as possible, performed a seismic diagnosis, and reinforced the structure to withstand earthquake forces equivalent to those stipulated in the Building Standards Act. The building faces the annex across the courtyard, giving it a sense of unity as a whole facility. While respecting the original design as much as possible, they aimed to extend the period of use, including in winter, except for the coldest months, by installing insulation and air conditioning equipment in the parts that cannot be seen. They installed floor heating and replaced it with flooring, and the walls added for seismic resistance expressed the original walls, fixtures, and image of the time, while the upper half of the space retained as much of the original design as possible. <Our project members> [Sales] Kayumi Tatsumi [Survey, design, layout and interior administration] NAU1: Norio Koito [Production and construction] Mikiya Fujitaka

A storehouse in the samurai residences of Kakunodate, Akita Prefecture has been renovated into a lodging facility. The concept is "KURA STAY," and the hotel is a cultural experience hotel where the lifestyle of the time has been preserved in the storehouse. The hotel consists of three storehouses, the "Bushigura," the "Gakkogura," and the "Tamonogura," for rent. The space incorporates Kakunodate's traditional crafts of birch crafts and Iburi-gakko production scenes, textile art such as plant dyeing, and samurai family crests, providing a local cultural experience throughout the stay. In addition, decorations have been provided in cooperation with local shops, and information is provided within the facility, which also serves as a tourist hub to encourage travel.

Hoshino Resorts' new business model, a hotel specialized in urban tourism, "OMO" was born in the spring of 2018. The first hotel to be operated, "OMO7 Asahikawa", was a rebranding project of a long-established local hotel. The brand concept is "an urban tourism hotel that doesn't just end with sleeping, but raises the excitement of your trip". We proposed a new communication concept design in the hotel market by sprinkling various playful gimmicks in the space that further draw out the appeal of the service content that connects travelers and locals and makes walking around the city more enjoyable.