Interview with KOICHI FUTATSUMATA / CASE-REAL —part 1
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Making the hotel calm and creating only the necessary functions without decoration
— Koichi Futatsumata / Case-Real
photography: Daisuke Shima
words: Reiji Yamakura/IDREIT translation: Richard Streeby
Koichi Futatsumata, who is based in Fukuoka and Tokyo, is engaged in architectural design as Case-Real and product design at the eponymous Koichi Futatsumata Studio. He talked about his attention to detail, using DDD HOTEL and Kaiboku as examples.
— What is the concept behind DDD HOTEL?
In a nutshell, it was a plan to brush up a pre-existing business hotel and make it a correct business hotel. I didn't aim to make it a hotel specialising in design, nor did I change it into a high-priced hotel. I wanted to make a hotel that was not gaudy and could be used properly.
At the main entrance, the brass-made sliding door welcomes hotel guests.
The brass-made pendant light add an elegant accent to the moss green and white based cafe space.
— The brass door and green walls are impressive. How did you choose the choose materials and colours?
I was able to come to a common purpose with the client in the direction of making the hotel a calm one and creating only the necessary functions without excessive decoration.
When I thought about how to produce "calmness," I came up with the idea of using green. Another reason is that I feel green is a calming colour. In addition, there is a gap between the impressions green gives during the day and at night, and I thought that difference is a good thing. A painted green surface with a wood-grain texture has a calm appearance at night. I used brass for the guest room signs and the entrance door. The surface of the door has just started to age pleasantly.
— The spacious common-use areas on the first and second floors are nice.
I created an architectural well to connect the first and second floors, and all the rooms on the second floor were removed to make it a common area. At any rate, I wanted to make it a spacious and bright space, so I added openings to let in natural light.
— Tell me about the guest rooms.
There are no TVs, and the standard room doesn't even have a bathtub, but it has a high-quality mattress for a comfortable sleep. For the bathrooms, I used conventional construction methods by placing mosaic tiles for a dignified touch. In renovating hotels, it's difficult to change the walls between rooms because of equipment, but in this hotel, I changed the layout, including the walls, drastically, and as a result, I was able to make each guest room more attractive.
— Even the custom-made bedside dimmer switches are green, aren't they?
Yes. Most of the things I had custom made are green. The chairs are originals designed by us for the hotel and produced by E&Y.
The moss green was selected to provide a sense of calmness.
— The food-and-drink area on the first floor is not a restaurant aimed at guests of the hotel.
It's a kitchen studio for talented chefs who don't have restaurants. It is used for workshops and reserved chef's tables. As for the design, we wanted a blackish space because of the word noir (black), which is the origin of the space name "nôl," so the room has gradation from black to dark grey and blue grey.
In the kitchen studio ‘nol’, the wall was painted in dark grey gradation.
Former multi parking space was converted to the gallery ‘PARCEL’.
— The gallery is another unique point. How was this decided on?
That space that used to be a semi-underground multistory parking garage was itself attractive. We considered making it into a bar, but while talking with the client, we came up with a plan to use it for exhibitions.
— Both the kitchen studio and the gallery, which are not typical of hotels, have a great influence on the character of DDD.
As places where new things happen one after another and which are always conveying information, they coexist with the hotel. As a result, the number of guests who are creatives in Japan or are from Western countries increased.
Futatsumata says he didn't focus the hotel on design, but by removing excessive ornamentation and carefully assembling designs in the details, he made it a calm hotel different from high-grade ones. It was designed to meet the goal of improving the quality of a guest's stay by aiming at innovation within the business hotel category.
continue to part 2
