Ace Hotel Kyoto is getting ready to welcome its first guests, and just in time for the high-travel season for the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer. The boutique hotel chain collaborated with Kengo Kuma and Commune Design for the 213-room hotel, which is part new-build and part historic structure that formerly housed the Kyoto Central Telephone Company, which was originally designed by iconic modern architect Tetsuro Yoshida in the 1920s. First announced in 2018, Ace Hotel Kyoto marks the company's first location in Asia.

Inspired by the ancient capital's abundance of nature, art, attention to craft, and profound history, the hotel will feature a lobby, multiple garden courtyards, a gallery, event spaces, collaborations with local artists, a cafe, and three standalone restaurants. Kengo Kuma updated the historic building with a wooden grid system and louvers and meshes that gently filter in natural light and wind. 

Featuring a more pared down aesthetic that embraces natural materials, the spacious guest rooms range from a Standard King, to Historic Doubles that are located inside the renovated telephone company part of the building, to a Tatami Suite, and feature details like Japanese-style soaking tubs, private terraces, Tivoli radios, and turntables.

In designing Ace Hotel Kyoto, Kengo Kuma “intended to design a ‘Cultural Catalyst’ for various people to visit and create a seamless relationship with Kyoto's community,” he said in a statement.

Reservations are now open for stays starting April 16, 2020.