Not a Hotel Ishigaki Becomes Part of the Ishigaki Landscape

Not a Hotel, an innovative hospitality chain based from Japan has announced the development of their new flagship property, Not a Hotel Ishigaki designed by Sou Fujimoto with sales for the property to start in May 2023.

Not a Hotel Ishigaki is visualised by the architect Sou Fujimoto as a one-room location built on a 9.9 square kilometer site located on the coast of Ishigaki Island, Okinawa. The 350 square meter circular house has a view of the ocean and a private garden. In addition to the living and dining room with a view of the sea, there are four separate bedrooms. This is a unique southern isles resort where you can relax amidst the natural landscape.

The design team at Sou Fujimoto Architects tries to take away the boundary between the landscape around the Ishigaki Island and the ‘Not a Hotel’ interiors. The exteriors of the hotel remain undistinguished from the landscape with the roof of the hotel taking on the green grass seen outside and dipping with the contours of the landscape. This is achieved with the gently sloping green roof which dips down to the level of the floor. Large openings allow access to the meadowed rooftop from inside, inviting the new landscape in to become a prominent part of the space.

A resort destination popular for holidays, the island is occupied by beach homes and a sprawl of supporting business scattered among the forested landscape inland. Even with this developing context, the ‘Not a Hotel’ villa remains isolated within a site preserving 3,000 tsubo (over two acres) of nature.

A major feature of this building is that the roof is covered in plants in full view. You cannot see any other buildings in the area, and the opening of the villa lets you see your own slice of the deep-blue sky. The architecture, with vague boundaries between indoors and outdoors, comes with a livingand dining room with a view of the sea and four separate bedrooms that can accommodate up to 10 people. The island kitchen with a view of the sea is set up in the open combined living and dining room that is surrounded by glass. The adjoined terrace has a pool, fire pit, with a panoramic view of the sea. The vast terrace with a large pool seamlessly connects to the beach.

Not a Hotel develops and sells vacation homes that can be share-purchased in 30-day units. The brand started selling flagship properties in September 2021, and NFTs for membership rights and hotel usage will begin sale in August 2022. The first location, Not a Hotel Aoshima, is scheduled to open in November 2022.

“We will expand our number of locations throughout Japan and promote the digitisation of ownership and usage of hotels and vacation homes,” says the hotel management.

Project: Not a Hotel Ishigaki

Design: Sou Fujimoto | @sou_fujimoto

Client: Not a Hotel | @notahotel_official

Location: Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

Status: Scheduled to start selling Not a Hotel ishigaki May 2023