In this project, we redesigned guest rooms for Dotonbori Hotel, located in the heart of Osaka's Minami district.
The hotel wanted to renovate single rooms, turning them into twin rooms to reflect changes in demand.
Dotonbori Hotel specializes in accommodating overseas guests, so we wanted the rooms to have a Japanese feel, which is why we chose as our room concept "a tea room on a moonlit night." We selected three single rooms and converted them into two twin rooms.
Opening vertical "tsukimi shoji" (moon-viewing paper screens) and looking out onto a forest of bamboo
Moonlight reflects off a lake
We captured beautiful scenes from Japan in the contrasts of our room designs.
Project to open a storefront along Midosuji lined with brand stores that buy brand-name goods.
We implemented the project with the aim of strengthening the image of the purchasing stores and creating a place that resonates with the sensibilities of the target group of owners of high-value brand-name goods.
Believing that if people feel that selling something means connecting it to someone else, the time they spend selling will be even more pleasant, we connected the store sign, salon entrance and waiting benches with the brand colors to express the idea of connecting customers’ thoughts and feelings through the experience.
Thinking that the experience of selling brand-name goods would be an important experience if the feeling of elation when buying brand-name goods could be experienced when selling them, we created a storefront with repetitive motifs and furnishings like a store brand that convey the history and high quality of the brand, creating an experience of selling as well as buying.
By creating a store brand that connects brand-name goods with the thoughts of the customers who own them, we aimed to create a place where customers who love to buy brand-name goods would also love to sell them.
"Reflecting Local Features in a Distinctly Japanese Space"
In this guest room redesign project, we created new room designs for The Bridge Hotel, located in America-mura, part of Osaka's Shinsaibashi district.
The hotel wanted to redesign both single and twin rooms to accommodate large numbers of guests.
The Bridge Hotel specializes in accommodating overseas guests, and the hotel's overall theme is Japan itself.
The moment you step out of the hotel, you find yourself in a melting pot of cultures, a distinctly Osaka-like milieu.
We developed a design concept that combined a Japanese feel with the atmosphere of Osaka's America-mura, where the hotel is located. We selected three guest rooms and turned them into four-person rooms.
A Japanese motif employing arches and paper screens
A varied range of bright, vibrant colors
Cute materials evocative of "ame-chan" (in Osaka, hard candies, known elsewhere in Japan as ame, have long been known as "ame-chan.")
Through our use of casual, colorful elements within a Japanese design motif, we have tried to create rooms with a Japanese feel that reflect the local character of Osaka.
“Carrying on the Factory Structure of the Past and Creating New Value”
Custom product manufacturer and e-commerce site planner, developer, and operator LESTAS.INC called on us to handle their marketing office and fabrication plant project.
This was the third project we did for them, following their head office and Umeda West projects.
The planned project site, in an area with numerous factories, was within line of site of Umeda WEST, enabling the two sites to coordinate with each other.
The building used for the project was a three-story high steel-frame building that had originally been a printing plant. The first floor of the redesigned plant would be a production plant, the second floor would house the marketing office, and the third floor would be a relaxation and socializing space for employees, including a rooftop area.
Because the existing building was originally a factory, there were exposed truss girders, steal H beams, and deck slabs.
We created a design plan that leveraged the rugged, distinctive factory ambiance, smartly combining the functions of the new production plant and marketing office.
This is because we believed we could express the originality of LESTAS.INC’s marketing office and production plant by retaining the raw factory structure and leveraging it in a design that would embody the modern face of production plants and offices.
Employees spend their days quietly, absorbed in their production work.
The president of LESTAS wanted to create a factory workplace environment that was comfortable and stylish.
That’s why we planned a “LESTAS CAFÉ” with its own kitchen for the third floor. The area around the project site contains numerous factories and few places to eat, but LESTAS CAFÉ would provide them with a convenient place to enjoy lunch. It also would serve as a site for periodic social gatherings for the entire company.
The terrace is surrounded by greenery, so when the weather is good employees can dine outside or simply relax and refresh themselves.
The face of the building retains the same factory construction as the buildings around it.
However, take one step inside and you find yourself in a modern, efficient production site and office that looks smart while retaining the rugged look of the factory.
At this site, LESTAS.INC combines analog product manufacturing using traditional hand-working techniques with a marketing office whose state-of-the-art functions make it easy for customers to order custom-made products, which would be difficult and time-consuming to handle on their own. In this project, we were inspired by the client to discover new ideas for creating a unique workplace environment and adding new value to an existing factory building.
We handled this project for a station-front lodging facility in Otake City, on the Hiroshima side of the border between Hiroshima and Yamaguchi Prefectures.
The main target of the facility is people on business trips to the nearby industrial area. The construction budget was limited, given the per-night lodging price of 7,000 yen, but we were confident that we could leverage the existing design within the budget and operation constraints.
We decided to add a unique spin to its uniform business hotel style by adding distinctive local and regional flavor, employing ideas that would drive interaction between the facility and its community.
For the lobby counter, we used raw steel material and corrugated slate, reflecting the ruggedness of the industrial region. We integrated it with the bar counter, making it possible for guests, after finishing off their front desk procedures, to unwind with a drink at the end of their work day. It also created a space for engaging with customers, making up for the loss of engagement resulting from the use of automated reception terminals. We placed chairs and benches around the lobby. We made it a place where people would come and go, having a bite to eat for breakfast, enjoying a refreshment after soaking in a tub, chatting in the afternoon. In the large communal bath, we used inexpensive 10 cm x 10 cm tiles to create a carp mural, evoking carp streamers made from handmade Otake paper and "Carp Castle," another name for Hiroshima castle. We named this bath the "Shoriyu," meaning "Ascending Carp Bath," creating an auspicious public bath that would also be used by the people of the community. On the wooden wall behind the front desk counter, we used spray paint, in the brand's color, to depict the sun setting behind Mt. Mikura, a famous Mt. Otake hiking destination. Overlapping circular wooden panels were installed on the entrance doors to represent carp scales. Throughout our design, we used distinctive regional elements such as these and others.
We didn't seek to create the luxurious socializing space of an urban boutique hotel, but instead a nostalgic socializing space that's the perfect fit for a business hotel in an outlying area.
” Creating a Space that Reflects the Relationships Between Streets and the Establishments that Line Them ”
In this project, we designed the Dotonbori-Sennichimae location of Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M, a chain of restaurants in Osaka.
It is located near Hozenji Yokocho, a narrow street packed with restaurants and drinking establishments, and the area receives a great deal of foot traffic.
The client wanted to have a large amount of seats and private rooms within the planned site, which measured 148 square meters, so they pictured a row of numerous small rooms.
They were therefore worried that the common areas, which customers would be directed through, would end up being plain and unengaging.
Consider, for a moment, Hozenji Yokocho. The street itself has its own appeal, which is why restaurants open there. There are many delicious restaurants, which is why people are attracted to the street. Both are vital elements; neither can be sacrificed.
We looked for design inspiration in this relationship between streets and the stores along them. That's why we chose to make the route through the restaurant a narrow and winding one.
The conceptual image was of a narrow lane packed with tiny establishments.
On each side of this narrow lane we placed rooms such as private rooms.
We also tucked three small gardens into nooks and crannies along the lane to visually entertain customers, as they would see a different scene unfold before them whenever they turned a corner.
The decorations of the lane were based on the façade of the restaurant itself. The lane side of each private room had a white noren curtain, creating a unified feel. The overall design was one of white facades along a dusky lane.
The finished result was a restaurant that couldn't be taken in at a single glance. Instead, it provides customers with the joy of exploration as they walk through it.
As customers are guided to their seats by the staff, they encounter the three gardens, delights to their eyes. The mouth-watering sounds and smells of grilling meat, wafting from beyond the noren curtains, along with the chattering of happy diners, appeal to both the nose and ears. Every step along the twisty lane that passes through the restaurant brims with excitement and splendor.
The clients on this project live on the third and fourth floors of a four-story building in Osaka. They asked us to renovate the fourth floor of their home.
The clients are a couple who live with their two children and a small dog. They have an intense interest in design, and from the initial design stages they clearly conveyed their own tastes and shared the problems they had with the existing design.
We conducted several interviews with the couple, and set out to redesign the movement lines in the home to enable the wife to do housework more smoothly.
We defined addresses for items to be put away and created rules for storage locations with the aim of providing greater ease of use.
We also used a gray motif, which both of the clients liked, for the overall design.
The details were highlighted with sharp edges, but gray-toned material was mapped to create a feeling of warmth and serenity, adding a little softness to the sharp details.
The end result was a home design that was a perfect fit for the clients -- a modern home where the four members of the family and their dog could feel at ease, enjoying their lively yet tranquil lives.
「 A circular space enclosed around its entire circumference by louvered panels that flow in from the exterior 」
This summer, a new Wellness Mall, containing numerous beauty salons and medical clinics, was opened on the 6th floor of HEP Navio, in front of Osaka Station. We were responsible for the design of an integrated clinic that offers internal medicine, health checkup, and beauty services.
The concept of the clinic is "Providing added value for your health through total support, from prevention treatment."
The diverse healthcare options provided by the clinic are divided into two main categories: internal medicine/health checkups and beauty. The clinic's long, narrow space, which measures 350 m2, is accessed from its center, and we zoned it into a left and right side area.
This was done to clearly convey to patients the different routes to be used depending on the nature of their visit, to ensure that operations were conducted smoothly, and to protect the privacy of patients.
The shared space in the clinic is frequented by a large number of visitors, so on the roughly 25 meter wall of the clinic we installed a large monitor for sharing information regarding the clinic's fields of specialty along with information regarding health and beauty. The walls consist of rhythmically arranged wooden louvers.
The plan was to design the entrance so that patients would be smoothly directed into the clinic, passing from the hallway into the interior and the waiting area.
The louvers wrap 360 degrees around the circular waiting area, imparting a warm, gentle feeling that relaxes the patients and puts them at ease.
Passing through the opening in the louvers surrounding the circular waiting room, patients can go in two directions, to the internal medicine/health checkup side or the beauty side. The internal medicine/health checkup has a clean white with wood accents that impart a feeling of warmth. The beauty area is made with hard, slightly luxurious materials, appealing to customers who are highly focused on health and beauty.
The wooden louvers, which flow from inside to outside the room, completely envelop the waiting room at the heart of the clinic, making it a place where patients relax and can consult with doctors regarding their health issues and concerns.
This is the office renovation of Mirai Group Inc., an asset management consulting company located in Kitahama in Osaka City.
The goal was to create a place where workers and visitors alike could feel the energy, dynamism, and anticipation typical of a start-up in its second year of business.
We tried to emphasize the function and role of the office beyond its function as a place to work.
We designed the grille to look like the side view of our corporate symbol, and placed it in the center of the office to serve as a wall dividing the rooms, a door to the lounge and office, a door to store the refrigerator, and lighting to illuminate the room.
The design is based on chic and luxurious furnishings in bronze colors, and is intended as a place where people can spend a comfortable but unique moment.
As a result, it became a place that exceeds the expectations of visitors and creates first impression of MIRAI that creates emotion.
A nonroutine hotel-like experience that is an extension of everyday life
This is a renovation project for a room in a newly built high-rise apartment in Kobe City, Hyogo.
The owner, who lives with his wife and small children in a suburb located an hour away by car,
bought this apartment room as an urban weekend home.
We proposed a luxurious space with a grey color tone for this location looking over the port city of Kobe with a beautiful night view. The idea behind this was a space where the family can spend time relaxing and enjoying a nonroutine hotel-like experience as an extension of their everyday life. The plan focused on a space where the family can gather and the layout was changed from 2LDK to 1LDK.
As we usually imagine the ocean or mountains in connection with holiday homes, this was a valuable opportunity to consider an urban-style way and space as we designed an urban weekend home for a client that usually lives in an environment surrounded by nature.
Sanwa Metal Industry , located in Matsubara City, Osaka Prefecture, is a leading manufacturer of mechanical components called grease nipples. They called on us for their factory renovation project.
Grease nipples are connectors used in all kinds of machines with moving parts, from automobiles and other vehicles to industrial machinery. They are precision components, so even flaws which are imperceptible to the naked eye can lead to mechanical failures.
Manufacturing requires high-precision technologies, and to stabilize these technologies companies are transitioning to state-of-the-art robotic manufacturing. However, factories still have a lingering reputation as being dirty, dangerous, and demeaning , so manufacturers are struggling to pass on technologies and skills to future generations, and to secure IT personnel.
We decided to express the value provided by grease nipples and the allure of their production processes in the space itself to create a worksite that workers would find valuable and appealing ― a place where they would want to work.
Grease nipples are vital components for machines. In a sense, they are the machines’ lifelines. They play a vital role in the creation of a recycling-oriented society by operating machines and the society that uses them. We expressed that value in the form of an infinity ring that circles the factory.
The existing exterior wall was topped by Yamato-bari paneling consisting of alternating boards of wood-like material. This expresses the company’s dedication to a society of resource circulation. We hope the appearance of the Yamato-bari wall imparts viewers with a feeling of tranquility in the midst of the factory’s industrial area.
Sanwa Metal Industry collects the steel and copper scraps produced during manufacturing and recycles them for use in future products. This is an important initiative for creating a recycling-oriented society, and we expressed its appeal in the form of a circulation hall.
We used reclaimed materials such as timber from forest thinning, zero VOC paint, and scrap material in the interior design, producing an open, comfortable space like a park or a plaza. In doing so, we created a space that acted as a social lubricant, stimulating conversation.
Each step of manufacturing processes is precise, smart, and beautiful, and we expressed this through the technical walls and the technical floor.
We placed storage area doors made of recycled aluminum around the manufacturing machinery, separating the manufacturing and storage spaces to keep the manufacturing environment clean at all times and produce a pleasant, clutter-free work environment.
Two different colors were used for the floor, separating areas travelled by people and articles from areas where manufacturing equipment was installed. This controlled the actions of both, creating a smart and stress-free workplace.
By spatially expressing and reaffirming the value provided by grease nipples and the allure of their production processes, we eliminated the dirty, dangerous, and demeaning image of manufacturing, creating instead a comfortable working environment.
Through all of this, our goal was to create a space that would be a joy for the people who worked there, families, the local community, and society.
「Work environment renovations for the factory building 」
Imura Printing was established after the M&A of a printing company in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa, by Imura. The company had previously been asked to design its boardroom/company dormitory/training facility and this time it received a commission to plan a work environment renovation envisioned by Imura for the 3-story steel factory building of Imura Printing.
Some may not have a good image of the printing industry.
They may imagine people working in a dark factory with ink stains in both hot and cold environments.
To change this negative image into a creative and clean place where people would want to work in,
we proposed an office concept for the factory building which combines the existing rugged and powerful image of the steel frame structure and the delicate and sharp image of the newly created walls/ceilings/furniture.
The white, light grey, and black colors, which make the factory building seem brighter and smarter,
were selected to give the office a stylish and modern image.
On the 2nd floor, a wood-based cafeteria was prepared with the idea of having people gather and enjoy a relaxed lunchtime in a calm and warm space.
Additionally, as it is a printing factory, staff wearing ink-stained clothes will be walking around. Therefore, by using materials that can easily have stains removed from areas below the waist, and installing sinks in the hallway that can be accessed without opening any doors, we create a space that can be kept clean and beautiful.
"A Wood-grilled Restaurant that Evokes a Mediterranean Market"
We designed this restaurant within Tenshiba Park, located in Osaka's Tennoji Ward.
As hinted at by the restaurant's name, which translates to "Wood Fire Place," it serves wood-grilled fish, vegetable, and meat dishes.
The restaurants target clientele consists of couples, families, and friends who have come to the park to play.
In designing the restaurant, we began by imagining a Mediterranean market.
The concept was that of enjoying generous servings of seafood from the local port cooked right on the spot, over a wood fire.
Our design included corrugated metal that had been rusted by the salty seaside wind, shipping palettes, unassuming concrete blocks, and haphazardly hung lights.
The interior is filled with the smells of food and the smoky aroma of the wood used to grill them.
The dishes are hearty yet delicate.
We added to this elements evocative of the environmental conservation efforts actively being carried out by the restaurant's operator, Saraya Co., Ltd.
The materials of the walls of the restaurant include discarded sea glass which washes up on shores and blue-based material, up-cycled from garments that were not up to standard and would normally have been simply thrown away. These provide the restaurant with a sense of liveliness and a seaside feel.
“A Vivid Frame that Provides the Café Space with a Sense of Individuality and Creates a Special Ambiance”
We designed this café within Tenshiba Park, located in Osaka’s Tennoji Ward. The café is situated right next to the entrance to the Tennoji Zoo, so the client named it “Café Dobutsuen No Yoko,” which means “Café Next to the Zoo.”
The café’s target clientele was primarily envisioned as park visitors, especially families visiting the zoo.
We designed a bright interior with a basic color palette of white and light gray, and then placed bench seats within vivid frames.
This granted a sense of individuality to the café and turned it into a special space, serving like photo frames around scenes of children enjoying a meal or snack. Visitors can take photographs to capture these special memories for posterity.
The elephant and giraffe sculptures designed for the café peek out from the wall, welcoming children to the zoo.
We designed the rooftop of THE BRIDGE HOTEL, located in Osaka's Shinsaibashi area.
Many of the hotel's guests are young overseas visitors, so the hotel wanted a unique place where guests could take photographs as mementos of their time in Japan.
Our concept was to design a space that was like being in a gorgeous, colorful kaleidoscope.
We adorned the four sides of the space with various Japanese patterns and colors, creating a festive, cute atmosphere.
The hotel also rents out kimonos, so the space was set up as a tea room where guests could take photographs and create memories of their Japanese visit.
"Material Textures Stand Out in the Darkened Interior"
The tenant of this two story wooden restaurant, formerly a teppanyaki (Japanese grill) restaurant, renovated it, turning it into a yakiniku (barbequed meat) restaurant, which we were responsible for designing.
It is located in a quiet residential part of Ikoma City in Nara Prefecture, in an area with various stores which attract visitors from far away. Mayumi is bustling both during lunchtime and dinnertime.
The client's target clientele is members of the local community and customers who come from far away just to enjoy the restaurant, like the other stores in the area.
In our design, we used relatively generously spaced seating and chose materials with expressive surfaces whose textures would stand out in the dark interior.
Our aim was to create a restaurant where diners would enjoy a leisurely time gathered around the food they grilled over open flames, surrounded by materials which made their bold presence felt under the subdued lighting.