The Academic Architecture of The Hotel Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu

Ninety years in the past in 1922, the Kiyomizu Elementary College first opened its doorways to welcome a brand new era of Kyoto faculty youngsters into an period of modernity. The bolstered concrete building stood consultant of Japan’s breakneck efforts to modernize and combine hallmarks of European design on a nationwide scale, a minor monument in stark distinction to the standard structure that also paints Kyoto with a permanent historic local weather. The constructing nonetheless stands intact atop of the Higashiyama hillside in Kyoto, not so totally different from its storied previous {that a} former scholar may nonetheless acknowledge quite a few hallmarks of their alma mater, working at present with a objective now not a lot educational as leisurely.

Remodeled into The Lodge Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu in 2020, the varsity has been reborn as an expensive instance of adaptive architectural reuse, welcoming company in search of the most effective of Japan’s historic capital mere footsteps away from a number of the metropolis’s most well-known landmarks.

The Lodge Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu was as soon as crammed with the unbridled vitality of kids going to and from class, and it’s pure to conjure these echoes of the constructing’s previous resonating via the lodge’s respectfully up to date 4-story predominant constructing. That’s in no small half as a result of Tokyo-based Aoyama Nomura Design (A.N.D.)’s gentle hand within the constructing’s conversion. Led by Artistic Director Ryu Kosaka, the agency stored most of the faculty’s unique European-influenced historic charms for eyes to analyze and fingers to hint – Spanish tiles, massive beams, wood spandrel partitions, arched home windows, double-width tiles, and scalloped detailing. Most poignant are the easily worn wood rails working throughout the lodge’s staircases, and different small telltale nicks and pockmarks documenting the constructing’s schoolhouse years inhabited by numerous generations of scholars.

The view from The Lodge Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu’s Library Restaurant out of doors eating deck, affording views of the backyard and the newly constructed enclosed walkway connecting the lodge’s reception room with the primary visitor constructing.

All in all, the outcomes are a laudable instance of the greenest type of structure, reusing a lot that was already there as a respectful reinterpretation of the town’s historical past.

To replace the varsity into lodging worthy of its luxurious intent, A.N.D. tactfully added quite a few trendy particulars, every curated to enrich the constructing’s previous with out venturing into saccharine nostalgia.

Paintings by Nao Oshima

Paintings by Masaomi Raku

Up to date artwork and furnishings are intermixed with parts of classic provenance coordinate to imprint the lodge’s reception, frequent rooms and hallways, restaurant, and bar with a way of historical past that feels contemporary fairly than museum-like. New trendy sections have been constructed to deal with the lodge’s reception, workers services, and to host an expansive lounge the place company are afforded all types of complementary bites and drinks all through their keep.

The lodge’s lounge operates as a standard socializing house for all to loosen up after an extended day of exploring Kyoto, with complementary drinks and snacks that change recurrently.

A library-themed restaurant occupies an area that was as soon as the varsity’s gymnasium and auditorium; a look throughout and upward reveals the intact particulars of its communal house previous, together with wood latticework.

The 48 visitor rooms themselves are extra brazenly up to date to a up to date end, with a warmly modern-minimalist aesthetic embracing massive expanses of wooden and gilded wall therapies, with all the trendy mattress and bathtub facilities anticipated of a 4-star lodge. Equally, visitor companies are exemplary upon arrival, characteristically Japanese intimately and care, whereas nonetheless being fully navigable by first time guests who may nonetheless be training their arigatou gozaimasu (suppose: formal, however all the time pleasant).

You’ll be onerous pressed to seek out loos as massive as these assigned to rooms inside The Lodge Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu throughout Japan, some with sizable separate bathtub tubs and two basin sinks.

Nestled away only a brief stroll from Kiyomizu-dera, one of the well-known and celebrated temples in Kyoto, the ambiance throughout the lodge is relaxed and appreciatively serene, a stark distinction to the throngs of crowded streets of vacationers that encompass the property, making it a really perfect house base for exploring the quite a few temples, shrines, museums, gardens, and Kyoto’s buying and eating district.

The rooftop bar serves varied libations and small plates, complemented by a postcard worthy view of Hokanji Temple “Yasaka Pagoda” and surrounding historic Kyoto (together with the big Ryozen Kannon big Buddha within the distance). It makes for a really perfect vantage to plan out the following day’s tour locations.

Whereas conventional ryokan inns and classy up to date lodge choices are aplenty to select from throughout Kyoto, The Lodge Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu stands as a satisfying compromise between historical past and modernity, a vacation spot particularly imagined to “imprint recollections and connect with the long run” with the satisfying spirit of a yearbook in architectural type.

What: The Lodge Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu
The place: 2-204-2 Kiyomizu, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto, Japan, 605-0862
How a lot: Beginning at $611 for a Customary King with breakfast included.
Highlights: Whereas all 48 rooms embody spacious loos and properly appointed beds, the rooms affording a view of Hokanji “Yasaka Pagoda” are arguably essentially the most scenic to go to sleep and get up to. The lodge’s personal Restaurant Library serves each Western and conventional Japanese breakfasts with a large assortment of artwork, design, and historic tomes to nostril via (we extremely advocate the standard menu for its lovely presentation and delectable seasonal flavors). And also you don’t should enterprise far if you need different eating choices: Benoit Kyoto, an Alain Ducasse French + Japanese restaurant adjoins the lodge website, located simply throughout their shared driveway.
Design draw: Kanjiro Kawai’s Home, the preserved residence of the trendy Japanese potter and ceramist is a brief and scenic 10-minute stroll away, with the POJ Studio brick-and-mortar retailer and the Kyoto Ceramic Heart each close by. If you happen to gentle up on the point out of “lamp,” you’ll want to try the lighting store, Miura Shomei, the place you’ll discover the place all these Western mid-century designer’s discovered their inspiration from.
Ebook it: The Lodge Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu

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Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, mountain climbing, tide swimming pools, and highway journeys, a collection of his adventures and musings will be discovered at gregoryhan.com.