Ace Hotel Kyoto
Providing value…and more

Ace Hotel Kyoto is located in the partially preserved and renovated ShinPuhKan complex of the former Kyoto Central Telephone Exchange building, a historic site. The U.S.-based Ace Hotel brand is renowned for introducing new cultures and revitalizing local areas via designs that incorporate characteristics drawn from collaboration with neighboring communities. The hotel’s first floor lobby, arranged to make anyone feel welcome to stay and use the facilities, expresses this idea well. The entire building features a unique design that blends Kyoto-esque elements in various ways, such as Japanese and Western styles, old and new perspectives, and art and architecture typical of how the Ace Hotel brand values local culture.

Commune Design, an interior design firm with deep experience with Ace Hotels in the U.S., created these elements. The proposed design for the client, NTT Urban Development, reflected the hotel’s unique features. Still, a number of functionality, cost, and practicability issues needed to be overcome in order to bring the project to life.
Blending together different categories, specialties, and varying cultural spheres requires deciding where the interior work ends and the artist’s work begins. Of course, regulations, costs, and construction periods must also be taken into account. Supporting communications between the various specialists to achieve optimal proposals was no mean task.

At Ace Hotel Kyoto, for example, many of the lighting fixtures, counter walls, floors and partitions were designed in collaboration with artists. Where laws and regulations made designing them as interior work too difficult, we suggested including them as artwork. And when costs required adjustments due to design complexity or high material expenses, we proposed limiting the scope of use or simplifying the design without straying from the overall concept.

On-site coordination was constantly carried out, based on a full understanding of the design concept -- with primary consideration given to avoid skewing it. Ideas considered by individual groups were discussed at “design meetings,” in which all stakeholders rendered a final check to determine 1) that there was no actual concept interference, and 2) items that should be prioritized in the overall balance of the project.

It is said that more people are involved in a hotel project than in any other type of building, and the Ace Hotel Kyoto was no exception. Coordinating the disparate groups becomes cumbersome as client, operator, architectural design reviewer, base building architect, interior designer and other consultants get involved. Design meetings bring all these parties to the same table to verify and discuss complex adjustments from multiple perspectives and share in the decision-making process.

Starting from the design stage, an important theme of these Design meetings was to bring together the images each group had envisioned. Meeting management was critical, since idea integration was extensive, and because themes changed with each stage of the project.

Ace Hotel Kyoto opened slightly later than originally planned, in June 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reviews were favorable both in Japan and abroad. The hotel received three Pavilions in the Michelin Guide Kyoto Osaka + Okayama 2021, as well as the Reggie Shui Development of the Year award at the 2020 Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP). The latter is based on criteria such as challenges overcome, scale of development, innovation, performance, and return on investment.

From the client’s perspective, due to the complexity of hotel-specific technical elements and operations, project stakeholders and other construction-related minutiae, the need for people to fill designated roles to promote and manage projects will continue to rise.
In addition, as user lifestyles become more diverse, demand will increase for more innovative and personalized services.
At Nikken Sekkei, it is our earnest wish to contribute to societal development. We do this by drawing upon our collective experience and committing to superior quality standards, teamwork, and by incorporating new trends with precision and balance, creating high value for clients and users alike.

Name	：	Ace Hotel Kyoto
Owner	：	NTT Urban Development Corporation
Operator	：	Ace Hotel
Location	：	Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
Number of guest rooms	：	213
Architectural design review	：	Kengo Kuma and Associates
Architectural design	：	NTT Facilities, Inc.
Interior design	：	Irie Miyake Architects & Engineers, Commune Design
Project management	：	Nikken Sekkei Ltd
Construction	：	Building: Obayashi Corporation Interior: Isetan Mitsukoshi Property Design Ltd.