Uketamo 酒店室内设计 by Chris Yj Chen is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2026 A' Design Award 铜奖 in 室内空间与展览设计 Competition Category.

铜室内· 2026

Uketamo 酒店室内设计

by Chris Yj Chen

Client: Chris YJ Chen

A' Design Award 铜奖 Winner in 室内 Category

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The Design

About Uketamo 酒店室内设计

Uketamo 是一处位于台湾台北大安区的酒店室内空间。设计将"接纳"的理念转化为一段空间旅程。一道中央楼梯串联起三个楼层的大堂,分别象征过去、当下与未来。楼梯采用钢结构骨架,外覆意大利瓷砖,墙面则以手工施作的矿物涂料呈现质朴的大地质感。一幅长达七米的手工簇绒挂毯,色彩由深靛蓝渐变至浅蓝。随着宾客拾级而上,各处表面愈显轻盈明亮,引领人们从都市的稠密走向静谧。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 铜奖

Uketamo 酒店室内设计是 A' Design Award 铜奖得主，这是授予以创造力、独创性和敏锐见长的杰出设计的极具声望的认可。铜奖得主是技艺娴熟、创意惊人的作品，印证了其设计师丰富的经验、想象力与机智。预计Uketamo 酒店室内设计将成为一件备受推崇、令人钦佩且被珍爱的物品，兼具显著的专业性与创新性。这件赢得 A' Design Award 铜奖的设计融入艺术、科学、设计和技术领域的最佳实践，并因注重细节而出类拔萃。Uketamo 酒店室内设计出色地满足需求，触动渴望，迷住情感，并吸引好奇心。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: By reinterpreting this ancient pilgrimage within a contemporary urban void, the designer crafted a 'Staircase of Time'. This ritualistic path invites travelers to embark on a meditative ascent that strips away the city's noise, allowing the soul to progress through a profound spiritual realignment. As guests traverse the levels, they move beyond the physical structure to experience a state of rebirth, ultimately restoring the spirit to its primal 'Zero' state.
Dimensions & Packaging: The central wall features a monumental 7 meter long tapestry by Yamagata Dantsu, a workshop founded in 1935. This bespoke textile was meticulously crafted over six months, integrating traditional thread cultivation, custom dyeing, and expert hand-tufting by skilled artisans. This ensures a seamless gradient transition from deep indigo to the ethereal pale blue-white of dawn light.
Tags: Hotel,Uketamo,Hotel Uketamo,Taiwan,Paradox Studio,Yamagata
Production Technology: The staircase is constructed with a structural steel frame clad in Italian tile. The surrounding walls are finished with ONE DUST Colorwash Extra, a premium mineral-based coating. This mineral paint is applied using a hand-layered technique to achieve a monolithic, earthy texture that evokes a mountain path.
Design Challenge: The primary challenge was translating the metaphysical 'Uketamo' philosophy into a tangible architectural experience within a constrained urban footprint. It required balancing physical materiality with a spiritual narrative through three key strategies:

1. Cultivating Acceptance through Movement:
One of the greatest challenges was designing the vertical circulation to facilitate a state of total acceptance (Uketamo). The goal was to create a space that could instinctively quiet the mind; by manipulating spatial volume and rhythm, the design transformed the act of climbing into a meditative process, allowing guests to unconditionally embrace the transition from urban chaos to inner stillness.

2. Metaphorical Translation: Synthesizing the "Three Mountains of Dewa" required precise control over material density. The designer overcame this by engineering a vertical sensory shift: moving from heavy, grounded textures on the lower floors to ethereal, light-driven surfaces at the peak, ensuring the spiritual timeline was perceptible through touch and sight.
3. Interactive Sightlines: We conducted a rigorous sightline analysis to align the staircase's open-riser structure with the monumental 'Yamago Agu' (looking up to the sacred mountain) tapestry. This ensured that the transition from a "look-up" (awe) to an "overlook" (clarity) perspective remained perfectly synchronized with the guest's physical ascent, successfully turning a functional transit void into a ritualistic, cinematic journey.
Research: The Trilogy of Life: The Arboreal Journey
The central staircase acts as the architectural sapwood, vertically interconnecting the 4th, 5th, and 6th-floor lobbies into a living allegory of a tree’s growth and spiritual evolution. The design maps the "Roots-Branches-Leaves" sequence onto a temporal timeline, creating a cohesive narrative arc where movement through space mirrors the journey of life.
4F: Solid Roots (The Past). Representing the foundation of being, the design language is grounded and tactile. Heavier textures and structural honesty evoke the stability of ancient roots deep within the mountain soil.
5F: Layered Branches (The Present). The main arrival point mimics the complexity of interlocking branches. Here, social interaction and functional layers intersect, capturing the vibrant, active energy of the canopy.
6F: Ethereal Leaves & Water Shadows (The Future). As the staircase reaches its peak, lightness defines the atmosphere. Sunlight filters through high windows, creating an effect of "leaves falling onto water shadows," symbolizing spiritual transcendence and rebirth.
Through this Vertical Connectivity, the architecture physically "lightens" as guests ascend. By transitioning from the density of the roots to the transparency of the sky, the design facilitates a profound Sensory Transformation, guiding the observer toward the ultimate state of Uketamo (Unconditionally Acceptance).
Inspiration: In the heart of Taipei Daan District, HOTEL UKETAMO explores the urban sanctuary through the lens of Japanese philosophy: Uketamo, a state of acceptance.
The project reimagined the traditional lobby and circulation into a 'Vertical Pilgrimage' rooted in the spiritual heritage of the Yamabushi monks from the Three Sacred Mountains of Dewa. Each level of this architectural intervention mirrors the sacred peaks' symbolism of existence: the Past, the Present, and the Future.
Project Duration: Completed in August 2025. Taipei, Taiwan.
Operation Flow: The center staircase is a vertical 'Cosmic Axis' bridging the celestial and the terrestrial, guided by the principle of 'As above, so below.' The Zenith, symbolizing the Origin of the Universe, acts as a spiritual 'Sun' cascading light like shimmering dewdrops. This light is captured at the base by a reflective 'Mirror Moon,' forming a Complete Circle that embodies the spiritual cycle of the Three Sacred Mountains of Dewa. This infinite resonance between the Past, Present, and Future suggests that the vastness of the universe and the reincarnation of life are both held within the stillness of the self. Within this axis, the staircase serves as a cinematic platform for the monumental tapestry, 'Yama o Aogu' specially commissioned from the renowned Yamagata Dantsu team. As guests traverse the levels, their vision evolves through a shifting perspective: from a humble look-up (awe) at the mountain's roots to a clear overlook (clarity) at its peak. This movement, echoing the transition from dawn to dusk, reflects an internal evolution, positing that the 'angle of the heart' ultimately determines how one perceives the mountain of life.
Team Members: Design Director: Chris YJ Chen
Architect: TC Kuo
Designer: Emma Hsu
Image Credits: Photographer: Andrew Kan