BIG has designed a new remote hotel concept on Sagi Island, Japan, for the NOT A HOTEL brand, its sixth property overall. The new Setouchi project follows other hospitality designs from the firm, including the new Hôtel des Horlogers in Switzerland and Vollebak Island in Canada.
A ribbon-like footpath stitches together the mossy archipelago’s natural landscape with the residential portion of the design. Three villas (‘360,’ ‘270,’ and ‘180’) form a sequence staggered at different elevations on the approximately 323,000-square-foot site overlooking the southwestern cape of Sagi Island. Each features its own unique characteristics and corresponding panoramic views of the sea and inner harbor area, with accommodations that vary between three and four bedrooms.
BIG’s founder, Bjarke Ingels, says: "Our design approach for NOT A HOTEL Setouchi wasn’t about imposing our ideas on the site; instead, it involved exploring, observing, and understanding the landscape. We envisioned how to best leverage this distinctive and remarkable terrain and fixed upon a design that mirrors the elegance of traditional Japanese architecture. NOT A HOTEL Setouchi will be an experiment in what happens when the sensibilities of both countries come together — the Danish desire for simplicity and the care and perfection of Japan."
Load-bearing rammed earth walls combine with glass facades to elevate "traditional Japanese architectural elements" in what BIG says is a modern interpretation of the Shoji screen. The villas have extra storage and bathrooms separated into smaller pod volumes. Outdoor fire pits, Japanese baths, and heated infinity pools complete the amenity offerings at each property, which come with PV-paneled roofs and openable facades for passive cooling.
The project is slated for a public opening in 2026.
3 Comments
Not content to despoil our cities with self-indulgent projects by and for the wealthy elites, mega-firms like BIG are rapidly branching out into undeveloped natural areas like a well-designed plague.
setouchi is where a lot of beautiful architectural resorts are located. If there is a plague the architects arent the ones leaving the scars. Quite the opposite, truth be told. The factories that used to be on these islands and are now gone, leaving ghost towns and ghost villages were a problem that architects like Sejima and Ando built poetic and profound responses to (more Sejima at Inujima than Ando at Naoshima, IMO, but the point is still true). Japan has protected lands and strict regulations about building on them. It is also a country with less extremes in wealth , so maybe this is less elitist than you think.
FWIW, I would say housing in North America is much more open to critical discussion about elitism than a small resort in a resort area in Japan.
Also, FWIW, the text saying that it is the Danish who love simplicity as if in contrast to Japanese culture is stupid. Feel free to mock the ridiculous PR text if you like. Its badly written. The design itself is nice.
Probably one of BIGs best work. Kudos!
(And those MIR renders, so beautiful)
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