Since ancient times the Japanese have had the wisdom to integrate various aspects of nature into daily life. This comes from a uniting love affair with the four seasons, and the change in colours that accompany them. Since opening its doors in 2003, the Park Hotel Tokyo (PHT) has engaged their visitors through the cultural exchange of art, providing not just luxury accommodation, but interactive experiences with high-end architecture and design.

To this end, the hotel itself was designed around three philosophical pillars: art, cuisine and journey – deeply held beliefs depicted through the hotel’s archetypal Japanese hospitality and paired-back modern Japanese minimalist aesthetic.

The PHT also pays homage to local traditions in nature through design,represented by the space’s glass-roofed atrium. Upon arrival, once alighting from the elevators on the 25th floor, you are greeted by a spacious panoptic, pentagonal void, creating a tremendous sense of openness and fluidity.

This area – magnificently styled in a neo-classic setting – immediately calms and soothes with its dimly-lit horticultural sanctuary set to the soundtrack of smooth jazz. The space is unlike any other of its kind; a soothing haven of trees and greenery, stretching between the building’s 25th and 34th floors. Ultimately, this creates a well of warming sunlight that augments the sensation of balance and vitality fostered by the architecture.

The allure of the bar/restaurant area is second only to reception (oddly enough) –which boasts wall-to-floor glass panelling where Tokyo Tower and Mount Fuji can often be seen floating against the backdrop of the city at-large.

In commemoration of its 10^th anniversary, the PHT explores a new concept: ‘Infinite Time & Space Amid Cognizant Japanese Beauty’. During the period of my stay, there was a powerful installation suspended from the atrium’s roof coupled with melancholic wall-projections by local artist Naoki Takenouchi; a project that played with the freely changing expressions of harmony within the space. This is nothing out-of-the-ordinary for the PHT, often commissioning local artists to inhabit the space with a meaningful and quintessentially Japanese language in design.

With its atrium, restaurants, travel and art concepts well in-tact, the Park Hotel Tokyo is unique – not only offering traditional Japanese hospitality throughout the year, but also stimulating the aesthetic senses of its guests.

This is no mere luxury hotel (though it is certainly luxurious), nor is it a destination for those ignorant of the idea of ‘living in design’. Rather, the Park Hotel Tokyo is an exercise in high-concept architecture and interior design, playing with the ideas of luxury and quality via high-end hospitality and service.

THE PARK HOTEL TOKYO
en.parkhoteltokyo.com

DESIGN HOTELS
designhotels.com