Natural High

Floating above the canopy of Japan's Awaji Island, this new Shigeru Ban-designed wellness and meditation retreat immerses you in the landscape

- By Joanna Kawecki

Seemingly floating above its surrounding forest, Shigeru Ban's cantilevered timber Seto Inland Sea, both co-exists with nature and enhances it. The contemporary wellness retreat spans two primary levels, each around 100m long and offering 360-degree views of undisturbed verdant scenery. Its name, Zenbo Seinei, refers to 'a place to calm the mind through experiences of zen whilst reflecting on one's self. This is heightened by the site's sweeping mountain views and peaceful, meditative atmosphere.

The story of Zenbo Seinei started seven years ago, when Yasuyuki Nambu, founder, and CEO of recruitment company Pasona Group, enlisted Ban to create an 'aerial zazen dojo' (zen retreat in the sky), inspired by traditional Japanese temple lodgings as well as modern wellness practices. Nambu, who had I spent much of his youth in a Japanese Buddhist temple, commissioned the building as part of a portfolio of properties that would revitalise the depopulating island. Following two years of planning and 18 months of construction, the retreat opened in late April 2022. The design brings together tradition and modernity. 'I aimed to create a simple structure limited in timber, and reduced any decoration to give it a kind of strict atmosphere, in addition to creating an inside-outside feeling,' says Ban.