K5

K5 TOKYO

Scandinavian and Japanese design sensibilities come together to transform a former bank in Tokyo’s financial district.

Words: Mandi Keighran • Photography: © Yikin Hyo

Tokyo’s Nihonbashi Kabutochō neighbourhood is rich in financial history, known as the site of the country’s first bank and now home to one of the largest stock exchanges in the world. It isn’t, however, regarded as a particularly vibrant destination, but that looks set to change with the opening of K5, a 20-key boutique hotel in a former bank opposite the stock exchange. Renovated by Swedish architecture and design studio Claesson Koivisto Rune (CKR), the structure has been stripped back to its original fabric and brought to life again with creative spatial planning and a sensitive palette of crafted materials.

“This was the perfect project for CKR,” says Yuta Oka, co-founder of K5. “The hotel was a revitalisation project, putting the soul back into a century-old building, built in 1923 during the Taishō era. Not many Japanese people have done that, but in Europe it’s more normal.”

When the developers bought the building – which survived the WWII fire-bombing of Tokyo due to its concrete construction – it was clad in an unremarkable façade and they had intended to demolish it. As they began the process and the layers were stripped back however, they uncovered a beautiful Western Neoclassical stone façade with Japanese detailing and cavernous interior volumes that are highly unusual in Japan. There was even original timber parquet flooring on the ground level, and scribbled construction notes visible on the walls and floors of the raw concrete.

“By keeping the building as brutal as it is, we have preserved a lot of history and created a contrast between the unfinished elements and the more refined glass and tiling,” says Ola Rune, co-founder of CKR. “We also saved quite a lot of money as we didn’t have to restore and clad all the existing surfaces.”

In keeping with the theme ‘existing with nature in the city’, interiors – particularly the ground floor – have been transformed into an urban jungle by native plant nursery Yard Works. “The owner came to us and said, ‘you’re putting life back into a dead pocket of Tokyo –

you don’t want to work with a flower shop that deals with beautiful flowers that eventually die, you want to work with someone who specialises in letting plants grow stronger and live longer’,” adds Oka. “That was a great statement for us.”

Metal shelves adorned with dozens of plants – described by Rune as “characters” – have also been used to divide the ground floor into three separate zones: Switch Coffee, Caveman restaurant, and a natural wine bar. Inspired by the concept of traditional shōji screens, which create blurred boundaries between various spaces in Japanese homes, these shelves maintain visual connection throughout. In doing so, the enormous volume of the ground floor is maintained.

This dissolving of borders between different spaces can be described by the Japanese word ‘aimai’, which became a driving concept in the project. “It means vague, obscure or ambiguous, and is often used in a positive, poetic sense,” says Rune. “Even though we didn’t know this word before this project, we have always liked this idea and have worked with it for over 25 years.”

Alongside these hospitality offerings, K5 also has a basement beer hall called B and a speakeasy-style cocktail bar, AO, which is hidden behind an unmarked door beside reception. “We didn’t want K5 to be a typical hotel,” Oka explains. “We call it a microcomplex and are setting a new standard with the restaurant and bars.”

The hotel’s 20 guestrooms, which range in size from 20-80m 2 , are arranged over three levels and are entered through imposing copper doors. Each room features an enormous bespoke dark cedar joinery unit at its centre comprising a bed, shelving unit and integrated desk. This functional structure is surrounded by a translucent, indigo dip-dyed curtain that drops from the ceiling to create an easily reconfigurable roomwithin-a-room.

The two seats in the lounge area – Takete, a curvaceous red loveseat, and Maluma, an angular black easy chair – have been designed by CKR to be intentionally contrasting, giving guests a variety of seating options. Larger rooms also feature a custom carpet inspired by Japanese tatami mats. “You feel very comfortable here,” Rune observes. “The furniture

Guestrooms feature a bespoke dark cedar joinery unit comprising a bed, shelving unit and integrated desk surrounded by a translucent, indigo dip-dyed curtain

and the plants bring energy into the rooms and make them both intriguing and very warm.”

The bathroom is accessed through a threemetre-high sliding timber screen and features a custom-designed mirror lamp. The glowing disk at the centre of the mirror can be changed from neutral white to bright red, a playful nod to the red sun on the Japanese flag. The tiles in the bathroom – like those in the corridors – are inspired by the existing parquet on the ground floor, and each room has its own unique pattern. “These ideas are not gimmicks,” Rune continues. “They feel natural. We didn’t want to create a minimalistic monastery, but a comfortable space for people to enjoy.”

A key challenge with the site was the presence of a large highway running behind the building. CKR managed to cleverly twist this negative into a positive feature by positioning the corridors on the highway-side and covering the windows with colourful panels of frosted glass that capture and abstract the headlights of passing cars, creating a play of shadow and light. “It’s like you’re travelling or in a movie,” says Rune. “You don’t often find corridors made with such love and care – in some ways, they are even more spectacular than the rooms.”

For Rune, a hotel in Japan felt like a natural progression from the firm’s projects across the Scandics. “The Japanese and Scandinavian way of design thinking is quite similar,” he notes. “There is an essential reduction of form or simplicity in the way it looks. Japanese architecture and design, however, is much more philosophical than Scandinavian.”

At its heart, K5 represents a relatively new kind of hotel concept for Tokyo, one which champions hyper-local experiences and a carefully crafted identity – it’s no surprise that it is a recent addition to the Design Hotels collection. “With K5, we made a hotel that we would like to stay in,” Rune concludes. “We have succeeded more than we imagined – and this is because of the founders. They are the bravest clients we have ever worked with because they gave us so much freedom.”

EXPRESS CHECK-OUT Owner / Operator: Ferment Developer: Heiwa Real Estate Architecture and Interior Design: Claesson Koivisto Rune Main Contractor: ADX www.k5-tokyo.com