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.
ADDRESS
267-1 Tenmacho
Shimogyo-ku
Kyoto
-
An architect’s own home offers a refined and leafy retreat from its East London surroundingsStudioshaw has completed a courtyard house in amongst a cluster of traditional terraced houses, harnessing the sun and plenty of greenery to bolster privacy and warmth
-
Finlandia Hall bistro blends culinary indulgence with reborn modernismFinlandia Hall bistro opens in Helsinki, adding a foodie dimension to the Finnish modernist architecture marvel by Alvar Aalto
-
Reimagining remembrance: Urn Studios introduces artistic urns to the UKBridging the gap between art and memory, Urn Studios offers contemporary, handcrafted funeral urns designed to be proudly displayed
-
All aboard the world’s most luxurious train journeysStay on track with our pick of the most luxurious train journeys around the world, whether in 1920s-style opulence or contemporary chic
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Hoshino Resorts KAI Akiu: a soothing onsen hotelIn Japan’s bucolic northeast, Hoshino Resorts KAI Akiu breathes new life into a sleepy hot spring village without betraying its ancient roots
-
Shake off the winter chill at these design-led onsen hotels in JapanWhether you’re heading to the mountains of Hokkaido or the alleys of Kyoto’s Gion district, these immaculately designed onsen hotels will keep the shivers at bay
-
The new hotels you’ll want to stay at in 2025Where to stay in 2025? Let six of the most-read-about hotel openings of the past 12 months inspire your escape – from a tiny Tokyo bolthole to a Tanzanian safari retreat
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
-
The most whimsical hotel Christmas trees around the worldWe round up the best hotel Christmas tree collaborations of the year, from an abstract take in Madrid to a heritage-rooted installation in Amsterdam
-
Six brilliant bars for your 2025 celebrations, hot off the Wallpaper* travel deskWallpaper’s most-read bar reviews of the year can't be wrong: here’s inspiration for your festive and new year plans, from a swanky Las Vegas lounge to a minimalist London drinking den
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Yoruya, a Japanese inn where less is always moreYoruya, which transforms a 110-year-old former kimono merchant shopfront and residence in Kurashiki, is an exercise in graceful restraint and craft
