Tokyo’s Bellustar Hotel combines minimalist interiors with great views of the city

Bellustar Tokyo, a Pan Pacific Hotel, spans the top nine floors of Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, a new 47-storey skyscraper with a tumbling water fountain-inspired façade by architect Yuko Nagayama in the neon-lit Shinjuku district.

A sharp new Tokyo skyscraper and an ancient Zen temple garden may appear to share few overlaps. Yet the idea of bridging these two worlds lies at the heart of the new hotel project, hovering 200m above the capital’s urban streetscape.

Inside Bellustar Hotel, Tokyo

Inside, at the apex of the 97-room hotel are three floors, which are home to five deluxe penthouses, three restaurants and a spa, designed by Tokyo’s Keiji Ashizawa Design and Copenhagen-based Norm Architects. The lower levels and guest rooms are designed by Kume Sekkei.

The atmosphere on the upper three levels is quiet and meditative, a refreshingly minimalist antidote to the richly layered hotel design often synonymous with Tokyo’s skyscrapers. Tall walls of windows with dramatic urban views create a light-flooding backdrop to the clean simplicity, natural materials, subdued palette, and meticulous craftsmanship that interconnects the spaces.

Scattered throughout are Karimoku furniture collections by Keiji Ashizawa and Norm Architects, plus Norman Foster in the restaurant, as well as a number of new bespoke pieces – all collectively forming the Karimoku Case Study 09 Bellustar Tokyo, the latest in the series of bespoke architectural and interior design experiments (following the recent Karimoku Case Study 08, Hiroo Residence in Tokyo).

'With an understated and earthy design language, the idea is to offer a new form of urban retreat that avoids the clichés of luxurious urban hospitality design,' explains Ashizawa. 'We hope that guests will first experience the vibrant atmosphere of the Shinjuku district – and then enjoy the serenity of the penthouse interior. It’s as if the lively Tokyo scenery were like a Zen temple’s karesansui (dry landscape garden).'

Minimalist curves and lines in a spectrum of woods and greys set a meditative tone at Bar Bellustar, as reflected by the cocooning ‘Swivel Lounge Chairs’ by Norm Architects for Karimoku, facing Tokyo views. Centre stage is the airy Bellustar Restaurant, designed by Ashizawa, serving modern French cuisine beneath a 13m-high ceiling, alongside an open kitchen and clean-lined dark wood tables. 

Meanwhile, Sushi Jin-e is a light-toned space with earthen walls and Edomae sushi served on a hinoki cypress counter; and Ten-yu offers an intimate ten-seat teppanyaki experience, in a space wrapped in dark ceramic tiles. Nearby Sunya – meaning sky in Sanskrit – is a 47th-floor Ashizawa-designed spa with minimalist grey interiors complemented by sweeping Tokyo views.

The five penthouses – whose names are inspired by nature and the seasons – are diverse in layout and tone, yet share a focus on contemporary simplicity, clean-lined design and crafted attention to detail. Resembling deluxe modern homes more than hotel suites, each penthouse – designed by both Ashizawa and Norm Architects – is fitted with spacious kitchens and living areas. 

The duplex Tori – meaning bird - is a dramatically double-height space, with 8.7m-high walls of window, serene expanses of light-toned wood, a kitchen-with-a-view and Karimoku items including a dining table by Ashizawa and Norm Architects’  large triangular washi pendant lantern.

A deeper palette resonates in two-level Hana (Flower), with meditative swathes of darker grey tones, smoked oak woods and sliding lattices. There is also Kaze (Wind), with smoothly curved Karimoku furniture in warmly woven Kvadrat textiles, custom lighting by Keiji Ashizawa Design and Tokyo Skytree views; Tsuki (Moon) with its dark wood dining table, window-side benches and atrium cutaways; and Sora (Sky) – the largest of the five – with its own private spa treatment room and jacuzzi overlooking the city.

'Peppered throughout the Bellustar spaces are a number of bespoke Karimoku pieces, ranging from a new trolley and stool by Ashizawa to a side table and lounge chair by Norm Architects.

'Life in Shinjuku moves fast and existing in this environment leaves us highly stimulated,' adds Frederik Werner of Norm Architects. 'Therefore, we wanted the penthouses, restaurants and spa to offer a decluttered and quiet space in the middle of the city, for intimate moments and contemplation. 

'You could say that Bellustar seeks ways to muffle the noise of the city and cleanse the mind, carving out corners of stillness. As an antidote to the city, we wanted to listen to nature’s story of artistry, optimism, imperfection, and impermanence, bringing these poignant qualities into work.'

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