Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka by STGK

24/12/2014. [Osaka] Japan
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA

In order to convey the hotel’s concept of “Japanese sophistication” STGK created this garden in Osaka with the theme of “Kaishiki”, a characteristic feature Located in Nakanoshima, Osaka’s business district, Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier was designed around the concept of stimulating all five senses of its cultured clientele.

Garden viewed from second floor pedestrian deck. Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Photography @ Kouji Okumura.

Garden viewed from second floor pedestrian deck. Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Photography @ Kouji Okumura.

Overview. Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Photography @ Kouji Okumura.

View from interior. Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Photography @ Kouji Okumura.

Horsetail integrated into the check pattern. Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Photography @ Kouji Okumura.

Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier por STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japón. Fotografía @ Kouji Okumura.

Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Photography @ Kouji Okumura. Click above to see larger image.

Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Photography @ Kouji Okumura.

Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier por STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japón. Fotografía @ Kouji Okumura.

Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Photography @ Kouji Okumura.

Plano de planta. Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier por STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japón.

Ground floor plan. Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Click above to see larger image.

Sección alzado. Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier por STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japón.

Section-elevation. Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Click above to see larger image.

Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Photography @ Kouji Okumura. Click above to see larger image.

Lamparas de acceso. Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier por STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japón. Fotografía @ Kouji Okumura.

Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Photography @ Kouji Okumura.

Detalle de la lamapara. Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier por STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japón. Fotografía @ Kouji Okumura.

Mitsui Garden Hotel Osaka Premier by STGK, Nakanoshima, Osaka, Japan. Photography @ Kouji Okumura.

Kanagawa Prefecture-based landscape design firm STGK (Studio Gen Kumagai) created the hotel’s gardens with an eye to both its location in the midst of high-rise offices, and the fact that hotel guests would be looking down on it from above. Seasonal plant leaves and flowers are set aside the food to emphasize the seasonal sensation in a very subtle manner. For the Japanese, admiring the changing season is a ritual celebration in their daily lives. Such ritual celebration can be seen in Japanese garden, Ikebana (floral art), and seasonal word in Haiku, etc.

In the garden, cherry blossoms which informs the advent of spring are ‘arranged’ in steel vases, rather than just ‘planted’ within the planted zone. In Japan, there are more than 600 different species of cherry blossom, and in this garden each different species of cherry blossom are carefully selected and planted. Other trees are also carefully selected in order to visualize move in nature, such as wind and sunlight through swinging leaves and flowers.

Along with this Ikebana-like planting, STGK designed the pavement by re-constructing the traditional japanese pattern. The random checked pattern is applied for the entire pavement and the plantation zoning. It has made the garden look modern yet traditional.

Capturing the fineness of nature and tradition in Japanese culture and re-interpreting them in present time has resulted in the expressing of the hotel’s fine hospitality.