The former HQ of gaming giant Nintendo is getting a new lease of life as a boutique hotel, following a top-to-toe makeover by Tokyo hospitality group Plan Do See, in collaboration with architect Tadao Ando. Located on a low-key street between Kyoto's Kamo and Takase rivers, Marufukuro offers a new spin on the ancient city's long-standing balancing act between past and future.
The hotel spans three structures dating back to 1933. These housed the HQ and warehouse for the Kyoto-born Nintendo (whose distribution company at the time, Marufuku, specialized in playing cards), plus the residence of Nintendo's founders, the Yamauchi family. The buildings are a time capsule of early Showa-era architecture, riffing between Japanese and Western influences. Plan Do See's renovation weaves a contemporary edge into the unique interiors, which feature sweeping masonry, geometric motifs, art deco fireplaces and jewel-toned textiles. Meanwhile, Ando created a new annex in signature swathes of concrete, while advising on the renovation of the original structures.
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Denne historien er fra June 2022-utgaven av Wallpaper.
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Guiding Light - Designer Joe Armitage follows his grandfather's footsteps in India, reissuing his elegant midcentury lamp and creating a new chandelier for Nilufar Gallery
For some of us, family inheritances I tend to be burdensome, taking up space, emotionally and physically, in both our minds and attics. For the London-based designer and architect Joe Armitage, however, a family heirloom has taken him somewhere lighter and brighter, across generations and continents, and into the path of Le Corbusier. This is the story of a lamp designed by Edward Armitage in India 72 years ago, which has today been expanded into a collection of lights by his grandson Joe.
POLE POSITION
A compact Melbourne house with a small footprint is big on efficiency and experimentation
URBAN OASIS
At an art-filled Mexico City residence, New York designer Giancarlo Valle has put his own spin on the country's traditional craft heritage
WARM FRONT
Designer Clive Lonstein elevates his carefully curated Manhattan home with rich textures and fabrics
BALCONY SCENE
A Brazilian island hotel offers a unique approach to the alfresco experience
ENSEMBLE CAST
How architect Anne Holtrop is leaving his mark on the Middle East
Survival mode
A new show looks at preparing for a post-apocalyptic landscape (and other catastrophes)
FLASK FORCE
A limited-edition perfume collaboration between two Spanish craft masters says it with flowers
BLOOM SERVICE
A flower-shaped brutalist beauty in Geneva gets a refresh
SECOND NATURE
A remodelled museum in Lisbon, by Kengo Kuma & Associates, meshes Japanese and Portuguese influences to create a space that sits in harmony with its surroundings
