On Chuo-dori, Ginza’s central artery, Matsuya Ginza stands just south of the Tokyo district’s famous 4-chome intersection. Here, in the main building of the century-old department store, Tokyo-based practice I-IN has conceived The Ginza Lounge, a soigné preserve for VIP guests of both the department store and credit card company JCB.
Spanning nearly 350 sq m, the collaboration emerged from what studio co-founder Hiromu Yuyama describes as ‘a long-standing mutual relationship’ between the two companies, which were seeking a shared presence in Tokyo’s most prestigious shopping district.
Step inside the sleek Matsuya Ginza lounge
The brief called for something decidedly lighter than Matsuya’s existing full-service lounge – a space to court a younger clientele and accommodate the district’s swelling international visitors. I-IN’s response distils Ginza’s essence into a single word: gloss.
In particular, Yuyama points out that Matsuya Ginza’s architecture is characterised by its beautiful glass façade. ‘Because this is their lounge, we wanted to create a space that reflects that same glossy, glass-like whiteness – a balance of modernity and elegance.’
To that end, highly polished aluminium panels clad walls and ceiling, transforming surfaces into planes of reflected radiance that multiply light throughout the interior. Against this white-on-white composition, I-IN introduced Edo purple – a saturated accent threading Japanese tradition through an emphatically contemporary space. The purple appears most dramatically in a semi-enclosed lounge and custom rug, offsetting all that reflected light with deep, rich colour.
The lounge unfolds sequentially: calm seating following the entrance, a central zone flooded with light, and finally that solemn purple-wrapped terminus. ‘The glowing wall surfaces immediately catch the eye upon entering,’ says Yuyama. ‘The endlessly reflected layers of light within the space themselves are the heroes.’
Bespoke elements punctuate the composition. Low tables are crafted using hera-shibori, a traditional Japanese aluminium spinning technique. Hinoki cypress appears in trays and woodwork. Illuminated surfaces and shoji screens carry washi paper’s tactile imprint, their translucency catching natural light. Central vases and side tables emerged from specialised sand-moulding techniques.
The studio navigated twin challenges: merging modernity with Japanese aesthetics while wrestling with compressed ceiling heights. Those aluminium panels proved particularly demanding, integrating lighting, climate control, and fire safety systems while achieving the luminous immersion I-IN envisioned.
‘Although difficult to fabricate, they reflect light beautifully,’ Yuyama says, adding that the result evokes ‘the glittering particles of light found in Ginza’s architecture and show windows.'
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