Sushi-Like Capsule Hotel From Tokyo
Masaaki Hiromura and Takaaki Nakamura from Design Studio S, an agency based in Roppongi in Tokyo, made this proposal for a very exciting capsule hotel.
Their concept 9h/Nine Hours was recently exhibited at the Axis Gallery in Tokyo. Reason enough for the design blogs Mocoloco and SpaceInvading to bring it to attention. 9h/Nine Hours is a beautiful design for a short-stay sleeping accommodation, dealing with the inconvenience of the hard working business men in Tokyo.
When finished, it offers a comfortable place to rest for 9 hours (1 hour shower, 7 hours sleep, 1 hour getting ready to run further). Guests can spend up to 17 hours in a single stay — the price for one night is ¥ 4,900. The rooms are small, just big enough for one person without claustrophobia to sleep in. All other hotel facilities are around the room, design towels, soap and other refreshing products are stored in the front-wall of the construction, which suggests bath and dressing facilities to be available. The bed sheets are of the same quality as those that are used in a four-star hotel. Altogether this is the luxury alternative to the temporary sleeping business. Expressed predominalty in the design, which is clean, extraordinary neat and recognizably Japanese, considering the sushi-like forms and colors.
Designboom writes:
“The first hotel will be opened in December this year, located in Shimogyo-Ku, Kyoto, located on Teramachi Street between department store Fujii Daimaru and convenience store AMPM, two minutes walk from Kawaramachi Station. The building itself will be 9 stories tall, will host 125 capsules, locker rooms, showers, and a lounge. Each capsule includes Panasonic’s advanced system for good sleeping by computerized control lighting. According to the time set, the light will wake you up.”
This concept would fit perfectly into airport-like situations, facilitating the so-called ‘continuously jetlagged’ of this world. Continuously jetlagged are those who travel for life — the rockstars of the brain economy, speaking at conferences all over the world and sleeping in planes, waiting rooms and hotels. ‘Rockstars’ that would never vandalize a hotel room though. This concept is about power-napping, which we wrote about before — being in a space of tranquility and safety within a stressful, mobile and hectic environment. I would love to power-nap sometimes, but these concepts don’t really seem to seriously enter Europe for the moment.
