Hatago VISON
Accommodation and shop complex in VISON
2021@Taki, Mie Prefecture
The Hatago is one of the lodging facilities in VISON. Four tiered terrace house buildings fitted to the geography stand surrounding a courtyard. The first floor consists of shops and the second floor is accommodation in each building. We aimed to create a theater-like space where people can feel the bustle of streets from the guestrooms. Large windows were adopted to create a design where they can become part of the landscape both inside and out.
The challenge in the master plan was how to balance and achieve both the bustle of a commercial facility that welcomes many day-trippers by being on a major traffic line from WA-VISON and other commercial areas to Honzo spa as well as the comfort of an accommodation facility. We came up with the concept of a theatrically immersive accommodation facility, drawing on its busy locale. By overlapping the theatrical actor-audience relationship on the closeness of the hatago (travel lodge) window side and the streets as seen in Japanese period dramas, we envisioned a scenery of guests enjoying the tasteful window-side view of the bustling streets filled with people walking back from hot springs. This is not a pursuit of a nostalgic period drama theme park, but an attempt to integrate the Japanese spatial structure where people can feel the abundant wonders that each season brings into a modern context.