spring to life

Kengo Kuma Associates completes Japan’s first zero-energy hotel in the city of Saijo, famous for its abundant spring water.

- Luo Jingmei

On the island of Shikoku is a city called Saijo. Part of the central Ehime Prefecture, it is bordered by the Seto Inland Sea to the north and sits at the base of Mount Ishizuchi, which is Western Japan’s highest mountain. Here, Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA) has designed Itomachi Hotel 0 – Japan’s first zero-energy hotel.

“The city is famous for its underground water that flows from Mount Ishizuchi. It is a rare city in Japan where every house has its own well called uchinuki and where the people can live on well water, which is available for free,” says Takumi Saikawa, the project leader (who has since left the firm).

for the community

Designed as a community hub, Itomachi Hotel 0 is part of the larger Itomachi Project conceived by the Kengo Kuma Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. Ideas came from workshops conducted with local residents and individual architectural competitions held for young architects. The initiative was started in 2016 to create a master plan for “new environmentally friendly cities based on the theme of water” [conceived] in close cooperation with partners in each locale, describes the project team.