The “ethereal magnificence” of classical Japanese Noh theatre knowledgeable Kengo Kuma and Associates’ design for the Banyan Tree resort in Kyoto, with a devoted stage hidden in its stepped gardens.
Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto is about within the foothills of town’s easterly Higashiyama mountains, in a historic district brimming with temples and shrines, historic cemeteries and burial grounds.
The world’s symbolic function as a bridge to the afterlife led Kengo Kuma and Associates (KKA) to search 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 resort was impressed by the ethereal fantastic thing about Noh,” Kuma advised Dezeen. “Noh is a standard artwork type that has roots in Kyoto, Japan, and is a superb expression of the internal struggles and complicated feelings of human beings.”
These references will be seen not simply within the resort’s devoted Noh stage – a timber skeleton made from yellow cedar and Kyoto cypress – but in addition within the structure of the resort itself and the interiors of its 52 visitor rooms designed by the late designer Yukio Hashimoto.
The resort’s design was guided by the Japanese aesthetic precept of yūgen, describing a mysterious, quiet magnificence that is among the central tenets of Noh, as set out by playwright Zeami Motokiyo.
“Your complete resort was designed to offer a spot for reflection,” Kuma stated. “And the Noh stage, set in opposition to the encompassing greenery, is arguably probably the most symbolic place throughout the resort that displays the idea of yūgen.”
Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto is about on a sloped website with a peak distinction of 12 metres between its lowest and highest level.
To benefit from the restricted area, KKA created a pair of mid-rise strengthened concrete volumes, offering panoramic views over Kyoto and framing the stepped gardens, which will be accessed from totally different flooring of the resort.
Banyan Tree’s major 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 visitors.
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 website meant that the resort construct can be important in quantity,” Kuma stated. “To match the dimensions of the encompassing 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 comfortable shadows that mirror the standard Japanese dimension system and harmonise with the environment.”
The resort’s entrance is sheltered by a miniature gabled roof, held up with out columns. As a substitute, the cantilevered construction is supported by an elaborate stack of criss-crossing beams.
“By using cutting-edge resin-based building strategies to securely be a part of the picket beams, we achieved a way of levitation that will not be doable with standard picket building,” Kuma stated.
“This progressive mix of recent know-how and conventional craftsmanship permits us to current a outstanding architectural feat – a large picket 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 new spring feeding the resort’s onsen baths.
A craggy rock pond sits on the identical stage because the ground-floor foyer and annexe, whereas the bamboo grove and Noh stage will be accessed from the second ground 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 gives an much more pared-back interpretation of a usually minimalist Noh stage, with no strong partitions or roof hiding its timber skeleton.
As a substitute of the standard 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. “Nevertheless, this restriction impressed a singular method to the stage’s design.”
“To honour this artwork type, we designed the Noh stage with an uncovered picket framework that reaches in direction of the sky, seamlessly integrating with the encompassing pure panorama, whereas aiming to retain the options of a standard Noh stage as a lot as doable.”
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 take care of visible curiosity regardless of this pared-back palette, timber was handled in several methods all through the foyer – both charred to type ornamental columns or laid in a chequerboard sample of alternating grains throughout the ground.
A mottled texture paying homage to hammered metallic was translated into wooden to type the bottom of the reception desk, making use of a standard Japanese carving method often called naguri.
This identical sample, lined 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 swimsuit 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 basic Japanese parts with a recent execution in refined methods all through our design,” stated the Hashimoto Yukio Design Studio crew.
“An instance can be the tea desk, the place we mixed a pure strong piece of tochi for the tabletop with hexagon-shaped legs – a refined and complicated element to match the fashion of the room.”
KKA has beforehand been accountable for designing a lot of widespread lodges throughout the nation together with the Ace Resort Kyoto and Version lodges in Tokyo’s Toranomon and Ginza districts.
