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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Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2025 highlights: Dolce & Gabbana to Emporio ArmaniDespite a reduced schedule, Milan Fashion Week Men’s arrives this weekend with plenty of intrigue, beginning with high-wattage shows from Dolce & Gabbana and Emporio Armani. Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss reports from Milan
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Rio Kobayashi’s new furniture bridges eras, shown alongside Fritz Rauh’s midcentury paintings at Blunk SpaceFurniture designer Rio Kobayashi unveils a new series, informed by the paintings of midcentury artist Fritz Rauh, at California’s Blunk Space
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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First look: Noma Kyoto returns and aims to ‘double-wow’ dinersNoma Kyoto opens on 8 October for a ten-week pop-up inside Ace Kyoto. Thomas Lykke, co-founder of OEO Studio, tells us of the interiors’ autumn-forest inspiration
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Kengo Kuma’s new Kyoto hotel is ‘a sanctuary of ethereal beauty’A former ryokan inn, Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto offers onsen rooms equipped with natural hot spring water, and a contemporary take on a Noh theatre
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A minimalist teahouse makes a serene addition to a Tadao Ando-designed Kyoto hotelOgata at The Shinmonzen is a contemporary reinterpretation of a Japanese teahouse that sells traditional blends, confectionery, crafts and fragrances
