Norm Air Hotel by Hayato Ishii is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 Silver A' Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design Competition Category.
SilverArchitecture· 2023
Norm Air Hotel
by Hayato Ishii
Client: Norm Air
Silver A' Design Award Winner in Architecture Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #145498The Design
About Norm Air Hotel
The private hotel Norm Air, based on the concept of chill and art, was designed to provide a luxurious chill experience. Overlooking the sky, forests, and lakes, the hotel offers a visual experience of floating in the sky, just as the word air implies. Designed for inclement weather, guests can enjoy the art on display at the hotel and the luxury chill experience even on rainy or cold days. Furniture and tools created by artists and designers allow you to enjoy an extraordinary experience.
The Recognition
About the Silver A' Design Award
Norm Air Hotel is a Silver A' Design Award winner, an extraordinarily prestigious recognition granted to top-of-the-line, gorgeous, and impressive designs. Silver winners are tremendously brilliant and exceedingly creative works that illustrate the outstanding expertise, talent, and acuity of their designers. Norm Air Hotel is expected to be a wonderful, showpiece work that is remarkably professional and profoundly innovative. This Silver A' Design Award-winning design is a highly notable, admired invention that benefits and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. Norm Air Hotel is a vastly envied creation that evokes desires, introduces positive feelings, and sparks amazement and wonderment.
Where to Get It
Award-Winning Architectural Design Services
We create thoughtfully designed spaces that balance beauty, function, and cost. Our Tokyo-based studio specializes in residential and hospitality architecture, working closely with clients to transform their vision into meaningful, livable environments.
Discuss Your ProjectInterviews
Grand Interview
Your innovative concept of blending art with hospitality at Norm Air Hotel responds to pandemic-era isolation - how did this vision evolve to create meaningful connections between artists and guests?
The project was originally inspired by the street art that dotted the streets of New York City, where the client spent time as a student.We thought that art should not be something you go all the way to museums to see, but something that exists in our daily lives and should be more familiar to us.The client wanted to create a place where people could feel close to art, like the streets of New York.We also thought it would be meaningful if we could provide a place for young artists who have not yet been able to showcase their work to the world.
The striking black exterior of Norm Air Hotel creates an intriguing contrast with its natural surroundings - what inspired your decision to design this dramatic interplay between architecture and environment?
Before designing hotel norm. air, we designed a related lodging facility called hotel norm. fuji.I synchronized the shape of the accommodation with that of the hotel.I also wanted people to focus their attention on the view of Lake Kawaguchi in front of the building, so I erected walls on both sides of the building, with openings only in the front.The exterior walls are finished with a traditional Japanese thatched roof with a single letter to express stillness in contrast to the movement of the surrounding environment.
How does Norm Air Hotel's floating aesthetic, particularly through its roofed balcony overlooking Lake Kawaguchi, enhance the guest experience and fulfill your concept of luxury through simplicity?
Kawaguchiko is a very cold area.Even if you come to visit this place, you can enjoy this hotel regardless of the weather so that you will not be unable to do all the things you want to do because of cold or rain.Also, the balcony is higher than the surrounding buildings, so you can see a nice view of Kawaguchi Lake without having to put in extra buildings.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- The hotel is designed around the theme of chill and art. In this age of information overload, this is a place where you can feel the luxury of being surrounded by nature, doing nothing, and being fulfilled just by being in this place. This space is not just a place to stay. To achieve this, we not only prepared some contents in the space, but also thought about creating a comfortable space to experience them.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Floor area 921.06m2
Building area 245.47m2
Wooden 2-story building - Tags
- sensitive, nostalgic, minimal, chill, art, air, hotel, lake,
- Production Technology
- In order not to influence the surroundings, the exterior is all black to blend in with the natural environment. No wood is used for the building's finishes, and the plan is to enjoy the forest by incorporating natural trees as borrowed scenery, with a clear contrast between the interior and exterior. In order to fully enjoy the view of Lake Kawaguchi, a roofed balcony is provided to maximize the feeling of floating in the air.
- Design Challenge
- Because of the laws in this area to preserve the natural environment, it was very difficult to harmonize the design of the building with the natural surroundings. By using a mainly black exterior to blend in with the natural environment, the hotel became difficult to see from a distance, and visitors to the hotel were surprised by the sudden appearance of a very modern building as they walked through the forest, feeling uneasy because they could not locate the hotel.
- Research
- In designing this hotel, we had many discussions with the project members.Through these discussions, we came to share the design concepts of sensibility, nostalgia, and minimalism. We tried to create a space that is elegant, not eccentric or new, but rather a nostalgic and peaceful space where people can feel at ease and enjoy their childhood, and a sense of unity using as few colors and materials as possible.
- Inspiration
- Faced with the shift to a new lifestyle due to the Corona disaster, it has become difficult to go out, and not only has the demand for lodging and restaurants declined, but young artists have equally lost a place to express themselves. We would like to see private hotels, where guests are limited, become places for expression. We aimed to provide a place to connect people who are stressed because of limited access to the outside world with artists who have lost a place to express themselves.
- Project Duration
- Project starts in September 2020
Construction starts in October 2021
Open in July 2022 - Operation Flow
- The private hotel norm. air, based on the concept of chill and art, was designed to provide a luxurious chill experience. Overlooking the sky, forests, and lakes, the hotel offers a visual experience of floating in the sky, just as the word air implies. Designed for inclement weather, guests can enjoy the art on display at the hotel and the luxury chill experience even on rainy or cold days. Furniture and tools created by artists and designers allow you to enjoy an extraordinary experience.
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