Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune designs K5, a new hotel in Tokyo

K5 Hotel, Tokyo, Japan - Guest room — (Image credit: press)

It’s all about aimai – Japanese for ‘blurred boundaries’ – at K5, a new Tokyo hotel complex in a former 1920s bank.

An anomaly in a city of skyscrapers, the five-level building’s DNA is strong-lined concrete, parquet flooring, big windows and double height ceilings – now with a fresh industrial makeover by Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune. 'It’s a rare space,' explains Ola Rune of the Stockholm-based firm. 'We wanted to contrast the masculine with the delicate'.

Its heartbeat is a buzzy ground floor cluster of loosely divided spaces: fermentation restaurant Caveman, a wine bar, Switch Coffee and plants oasis by Yard Works. Ao, a small red bar, also serves tea-inspired cocktails and Brooklyn Brewery (the first outside New York) spans the basement.

Copper-lined elevators lead to corridors with geometric concrete flooring, curved cedar walls and retro window panels in leafy shades.

The scene-stealers, however, are the 20 guestrooms: beneath unusually high ceilings, indigo-dipped curtains encircle freestanding beds, alongside beehive-shaped washi lanterns, raw concrete walls, tatami-inspired Kasthall wool rugs and sculptural chairs in clean black leather lines and soft scarlet curves. Rune adds: 'The building has a very strong appearance. We kept whatever we could but added contrasting details to the original features – the walls of cedar wood, the circular curtains, the bespoke furniture pieces.'

ADDRESS

3-5 Nihombashikabutocho
Chuo-ku

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Danielle Demetriou is a British writer and editor who moved from London to Japan in 2007. She writes about design, architecture and culture (for newspapers, magazines and books) and lives in an old machiya townhouse in Kyoto.

Instagram - @danielleinjapan