<h2>Lead</h2>
<b>What other highlights of the Seto Inland Sea Art Festival? </b>
This article is reproduced from: DesignFocus Design Spotlight
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Seto Inland Sea 9 accommodations
If you want to see the design works of 15 well-known architects in Japan, including Tadao Ando, Kazuyo Sejima, Ritsue Nishizawa, and Sosuke Fujimoto, you must not miss the three-year international art festival such as Miss it, which is being held in Setouchi at this moment.
Poster for the 2019 Seto Inland Sea International Arts Festival
The Seto Inland Sea is known as the Japanese Aegean Sea, and the main islands include Naoshima, Toshima, Shodoshima, Inujima, and Ogijima. The entire sea and contiguous islands form a vast natural art museum.
On such a beautiful island full of artistic atmosphere, it is natural to have a temperament that matches it. We have carefully selected the following 9 niche and chic accommodations to choose from during the festival.
Naoshima chapter
01
Benesse House
Design: Tadao Ando
Benesse House is built by Tadao Ando himself, and is composed of Benesse House Museum, Benesse House Oval, Benesse House Beach/Park, and the hotel rooms are also divided into four themes: Museum, Oval, Park, and Beach.
The symbiosis of nature, architecture and art is the core concept of Benesse House, so the sense of luxury here is not shaped by intricate decorations – on the contrary, the power of design creates a simple, elegant, high-end space, maximizing the light, wind and sea view in Seto, making nature the most luxurious decoration.
The resident-only oval features the famous oval atrium in the middle of the building, reflecting the vast sky and changing lights and shadows on the water, creating a unique and enchanting, dreamlike art space.
Restaurants and bars are notable, and guests are free to visit the indoor and outdoor artworks. Benesse House can start booking 3 months in advance, and it's even harder to get a night up close, so if you see an empty room, remember to hurry up.
Matsuyama chapter
Seto Inland Sea Aoi
Tadao Ando built the famous Jichu Art Museum and Benesse House Museum on Naoshima, while Seto Inland Sea Aokai was tadao's art museum and hotel project in Matsuyama, home to Kenji in Tokyo Love Story.
In daily life, "凪" is a very rare but meaningful Chinese character, pronounced "nagi", which refers to the calm of the wind and waves, and also has a wish and vision for a stable life. MINIMAL LUXURY is the basic design concept, discarding the cumbersome burdens, using the basic elements derived from nature, and magically integrating nature and history and culture with the building itself.
Although there are only seven rare rooms, through the rough performance of concrete, with a simple line frame, the beautiful landscape and skylight of the Seto Inland Sea are fully included in its decoration, creating a quiet and simple paradise that is forgotten in nature, making people want to leave the hustle and bustle of the city at once and wander with the sea breeze!
The new UMITOTA, which opened in the summer of 2018, is just a stone's throw from the coast of Toshima. Designed by architect Shinichiro Ogata and carefully selected by Akira Mina Perhonen, the founder of fashion brand Mina Perhonen, this modest detached hotel showcases a high level of aesthetic awareness with its meticulous details and unique atmosphere.
Toshima chapter
UMITOTA Design: Akira Mikawa / Shinichiro Ogata
Shinichiro Ogata has previously begun to design famous stores such as Tokyo Andaz, Yakyun Tea House, HIGASHI-YAMA, WASARA, etc., and he is very good at integrating traditional Japanese materials and Japanese temperament into the overall simple style. At UMITOTA, he cleverly restored this ancient folk home using stone and wood from Toshima.
Akira Minagawa uses high-quality, natural and interesting furniture and ornaments, surrounded by mountains and seas, suitable for emptying and reading, making UMITA a "private ideal residence". In addition to the comfortable bedroom, there is a sea-view bathroom and a small library.
02
mamma guest house
Design: Yoshinori Abe
The name mamma is actually "mama" – the name has two meanings: one is that mamma was converted from the former childcare facility "Kami-kan" by Japanese architect Ryo Ashibe, and on the other hand, mamma wants to become a Japanese-style B&B that is "as warm as returning to your own home in every detail", which makes people feel really kind and comfortable.
Mamma has preserved the original appearance of the Shrine as much as possible, not only retaining all the Japanese-style rooms with tatami mats, but also the original renovated semi-open-air money soup in the hotel is also very distinctive.
03
White Dorm
Design: Akira Minagawa / Shinichiro Ogata
A short walk along the coast from Jiapu Port, there is a small village full of nostalgic ancient folk homes. Bailiao is hidden in this quiet and calm neighborhood. Shiraliao is a pure white cottage created by Toshima's famous Sea Restaurant and the same team of UMITOTA, as the name suggests.
It used to be an old house that was badly damaged. The team retained the external structure, and the interior was greatly renovated, using wood, stone, lacquer and other materials to present different levels of white, simple and clean to the extreme, almost only the furniture and supplies necessary for life, and only a group of up to 4 guests per day.
Perhaps here it is possible to achieve true renunciation – to be free from troubles and desires, to face the pure heart again in a sense of pure white openness. Because only one group of guests are received a day, it is almost necessary to make a reservation two months in advance, so remember to set aside enough time.
Small Bean Island chapter
Shimajuku Shinri
Design: Yasuyuki Makoto
Shimajuku Zhenli is a famous Washi inn on Shodoshima, and people who have stayed in it are always obsessed with it. It has several beautiful ancient folk homes on Xiaodou Island, and the decoration is low-key and warm, making people feel like home.
The owner of the hotel, Yasuyuki Makoto, is a native of Shodo Island, who once studied cooking, immersed himself in the combination of local ingredients with soy sauce and olives, and also thought carefully about the business model of the hotel on the island, making Shimajuku Zhenli a combination of accommodation, spa, hot spring, food, and soy sauce workshop.
The hotel's hot springs come from the volcanic activity of the island, and the hot springs contain a lot of metasilicic acid, which has a beautiful skin effect.
The hotel's chef will also explain the history of soy sauce, its recipes and the unique taste of the different soy sauces. Their persistence and dedication to soy sauce manufacturing will become a delicious memory that moves people.
Kaohsiung
Kinco. hostel + cafe
In recent years, Japan has seen an increasing number of mixed-use travel spaces that combine cafes and design hostels, Kinco. It is a complex coffee youth hostel with a lot of charm in Takamatsu City. Because it is rebuilt from a 50-year-old vault, the whole building is transparent and spacious, and it also has the calm beauty of the old building.
On the first floor is a café where guests and neighbors gather and take a nap, offering delicious coffee and light food. Take the simple industrial Loft style, good lighting, greenery, wooden tables and music contrast with the old house, more relaxed and funky atmosphere. Most of the bookshelves are albums and magazines with art and travel themes, and the selection of books is also very tasteful.
Most of the bookshelves are albums and magazines with art and travel themes, and the selection of books is also very tasteful.
The second floor is a hostel in the form of bunk beds common to general youth hotels, but the personal space is specially made into a log cabin form, as if it belongs to its own secret space, and people who are not used to the capsule can also feel safe.
OISHI HOSTEL
AUBERGE de OISHI is almost 15 minutes from Takamatsu Station, but it feels like it's secluded away from the city. The small white buildings are high above the sea overlooking the Seto Inland Sea, and in an instant it looks like crossing from Japan to Greece, reminiscent of houses around the Mediterranean Sea.
Surrounded by lush woods, looking up at the blue sky, the abundance of nature contrasts with the hotel's gray and white building facades, which is impressive.
Although there are only 5 rooms, each one is completely sea-facing, with a terrace with a very wide view, full of French romance. There is no TV in the room, because the host wants all guests who come to AUBERGE de OISHI to enjoy the quiet sound of the Seto Inland Sea and observe the quiet flow of time in the room, which is the best BGM.
French restaurants are also very famous, and the biggest selling point is the use of local ingredients in authentic French cuisine, such as Sanuki olives from nearby islands and fresh Seto Uchiha. After introducing the various beautiful accommodations on the island, let's finally use this floating hotel on the sea as the finale!
Sea Chapter
Hotel Guntû on the sea
Design: Horibe Yasuji
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Guntû is based in the Seto Inland Sea and travels to and from the bella vista pier in Onomichi City, passing through multiple islands in the Seto Inland Sea at the same time. Thanks to the calm sea of the Seto Inland Sea and the creative eaves design of architect Yasuji Horibe, Guntû is more like a house floating on the sea.
The design uses a large amount of wood design, exudes a natural atmosphere, and blends in with the vast ocean surface.
Guntû has designed only 19 guest rooms to provide the most luxurious sailing experience – each with an offshore terrace with the closest views of the Seto Inland Sea.
The most exclusive experience is The guntû Suite, a 90 m2 oversized room located in front of the bow with the best views of the direction of travel.
Open-air private soaking pools, baths with saunas, sun-drenched corridors, and halls where you can feel the gentle sea breeze have become the soul of Guntû.