Ace Hotel Kyoto, Designed by Kengo Kuma, on the Former Central Telephone Office Premises

Architectural firm Kengo Kuma and Associates designed the first Ace Hotel to be built in Asia, which opened its doors in April 2020 in Kyoto.

The aim was to turn a historic building dating back to the 1920s, which was once the city’s Central Telephone Office, into an exciting cultural hub.

Wood, a 21st-century material

With its wooden structure superimposed onto red brick, the Ace Hotel Kyoto perpetuates the hallmark style of the luxury American hotel chain, combining a holiday destination and cultural events, like collaborations with artists.

Kengo Kuma is a cult architect who creates elegant structures all around the world. Two of his most notable works are the unmistakable tourist and cultural information centre in Tokyo’s Asakusa district, and the Mont Blanc Base Camp, a coworking space in the heart of Chamonix. His agency is also designing Saint-Denis Playel, the station for the Grand Paris Express.

What do all of Kengo Kuma’s creations have in common? Aside from the almost systematic use of wood, which, he explains, will be ‘the material of the twenty-first century‘, they all express the desire to find a place in a less uniform society.

More information about the Ace Hotel Kyoto can be found on the establishment’s website.