BnA Alter Museum — Kyoto, Japan

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A bedroom at the BnA Alter Museum — Kyoto
(Image credit: TBC)

Many modern urban hotels like to boast of their connection with the art community but few, we wager, can hold a candle to Kyoto’s newly minted BnA Alter Museum.

Located within a few minutes walk of fabled Gion, Karawamachi and the Kamo river, the 10-storey building hides a kaleidoscopic fantasy within its relatively nondescript narrow white façade .

A vertical wing, rising up the building’s entire 10-storey height, is taken up by four art galleries (collectively named SCG) with the museum shop, café and lounge that looks like the result of a one-night stand between the Jetsons and Takeshi Murakami, and a bar staking the ground floor.

Meanwhile, 31 bedrooms occupy the third to tenth storeys. We use the word ‘bedroom’ loosely because each is literally a permanent exhibition by 15 Japanese artists who collectively have created an extraordinarily eclectic mix of interior designs, some of which feature charged swirls of colours and three-dimensional installations that seem to pour out of the ceiling. A particular treat is that some of the rooms look directly into the SCG art galleries.

If calmness is key to your sleep, we suggest booking the all-white serenity of the Daito Manabe-designed room or the Brutalist-inspired D_R_M room by the vocalist, EYE.

Close view of a bed at the BnA Alter Museum — Kyoto

(Image credit: TBC)

A bedroom at the BnA Alter Museum — Kyoto

(Image credit: TBC)

Close view of ceiling art in a room at the BnA Alter Museum — Kyoto

(Image credit: TBC)

A bedroom at the BnA Alter Museum — Kyoto

(Image credit: TBC)

Inside a room at the BnA Alter Museum — Kyoto

(Image credit: TBC)

Dining area in a room at the BnA Alter Museum — Kyoto

(Image credit: TBC)

A lounge area in the BnA Alter Museum — Kyoto

(Image credit: TBC)

Restaurant area at the BnA Alter Museum — Kyoto

(Image credit: TBC)

ADDRESS

267-1 Tenmacho
Shimogyo-ku
Kyoto

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Daven Wu

Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.