Kengo Kuma adorns Banyan Tree Kyoto with timber theatre stage

The “ethereal magnificence” of classical Japanese Noh theatre knowledgeable Kengo Kuma and Associates‘ design for the Banyan Tree lodge in Kyoto, with a devoted stage hidden in its stepped gardens.

Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto is about within the foothills of the town’s easterly Higashiyama mountains, in a historic district brimming with temples and shrines, historic cemeteries and burial grounds.

The realm’s symbolic position as a bridge to the afterlife led Kengo Kuma and Associates (KKA) to seek out the primary inspiration for its design within the 14th-century artwork of Noh, generally known as the “theatre of ghosts” as a result of it tends to characteristic spirits as key characters.

“The lodge was impressed by the ethereal fantastic thing about Noh,” Kuma instructed Dezeen. “Noh is a standard artwork kind that has roots in Kyoto, Japan, and is a superb expression of the interior struggles and sophisticated feelings of human beings.”

These references will be seen not simply within the lodge’s devoted Noh stage – a timber skeleton made from yellow cedar and Kyoto cypress – but in addition within the structure of the lodge itself and the interiors of its 52 visitor rooms designed by the late designer Yukio Hashimoto.

The lodge’s design was guided by the Japanese aesthetic precept of yūgen, describing a mysterious, quiet magnificence that is without doubt one of the central tenets of Noh, as set out by playwright Zeami Motokiyo.

“The whole lodge was designed to supply a spot for reflection,” Kuma stated. “And the Noh stage, set in opposition to the encircling greenery, is arguably probably the most symbolic place inside the lodge that displays the idea of yūgen.”

Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto is about on a sloped web site with a peak distinction of 12 metres between its lowest and highest level.

To take advantage of the restricted house, KKA created a pair of mid-rise bolstered concrete volumes, offering panoramic views over Kyoto and framing the stepped gardens, which will be accessed from completely different flooring of the lodge.

Banyan Tree’s primary four-storey constructing homes the bedrooms and the entire frequent areas – together with a triple-height foyer, the Ryozen restaurant, a cavernous bar and gender-split onsen baths – whereas the perpendicular three-storey annexe accommodates extra company.

KKA put in three tiers of eaves with slatted timber overhangs to interrupt up these two monolithic volumes and supply a contemporary tackle conventional Japanese structure.

“The restricted web site meant that the lodge construct can be important in quantity,” Kuma stated. “To match the dimensions of the encircling space, we determined to make use of the eaves to visually divide the constructing into smaller sections.”

“Steady rafters have been then put in to create the deep, elongated eaves and tender shadows that mirror the normal Japanese dimension system and harmonise with the environment.”

The lodge’s entrance is sheltered by a miniature gabled roof, held up with out columns. As an alternative, the cantilevered construction is supported by an elaborate stack of criss-crossing beams.

“By using cutting-edge resin-based building strategies to securely be part of the wood beams, we achieved a way of levitation that will not be potential with typical wood building,” Kuma stated.

“This progressive mix of contemporary know-how and conventional craftsmanship permits us to current a exceptional architectural feat – a large wood construction seemingly floating within the air to welcome guests.”

To mix the constructing into the Higashiyama panorama, KKA used weathered stones from an present masonry wall on the positioning alongside rustic chunks of granite to clad the bottom of the primary constructing.

The studio additionally preserved and restored the prevailing landscaping on the positioning, together with moss, stones, timber and a small bamboo grove, which hides the recent spring feeding the lodge’s onsen baths.

A craggy rock pond sits on the identical degree because the ground-floor foyer and annexe, whereas the bamboo grove and Noh stage will be accessed from the second flooring by way of the terrace of restaurant Ryozen, which serves multi-course kaiseki meals.

The stage itself is about on stilts above a shallow reflecting pool and provides an much more pared-back interpretation of a sometimes minimalist Noh stage, with no stable partitions or roof hiding its timber skeleton.

As an alternative of the normal kagami-ita backdrop of a painted pine tree, the stage now frames views of actual timber.

“Setting up a roofed constructing was not permitted on the positioning the place the Noh stage now stands,” Kuma stated. “Nonetheless, this restriction impressed a singular method to the stage’s design.”

“To honour this artwork kind, we designed the Noh stage with an uncovered wood framework that reaches in the direction of the sky, seamlessly integrating with the encircling pure panorama, whereas aiming to retain the options of a standard Noh stage as a lot as potential.”

The inside additionally goals to translate conventional Japanese design particulars by way of a simplified, trendy materials choice, drawing closely on wooden and stone.

To keep up visible curiosity regardless of this pared-back palette, timber was handled in several methods all through the foyer – both charred to kind ornamental columns or laid in a chequerboard sample of alternating grains throughout the ground.

A mottled texture harking back to hammered metallic was translated into wooden to kind the bottom of the reception desk, making use of a standard Japanese carving method referred to as naguri.

This identical sample, coated in regionally sourced gold leaf, additionally options throughout headboards within the visitor suites.

The rooms are wealthy in conventional particulars like tatami flooring and cypress-wood bathtubs – though many have been tailored to go well with trendy tastes.

The moveable shoji screens enclosing the bathtub, for instance, have their timber lattices hidden behind layers of washi paper, whereas the horigotatsu seating space was raised to cater to Western seating preferences and create a small workspace.

“We mix traditional Japanese parts with a recent execution in refined methods all through our design,” stated the Hashimoto Yukio Design Studio staff.

“An instance can be the tea desk, the place we mixed a pure stable piece of tochi for the tabletop with hexagon-shaped legs – a refined and complex element to match the fashion of the room.”

KKA has beforehand been liable for designing various well-liked lodges throughout the nation together with the Ace Resort Kyoto and Version lodges in Tokyo’s Toranomon and Ginza districts.