The visionary Japanese hospitality company NOT A HOTEL has opened its newest property, NOT A HOTEL Setouchi, on Japan’s remote island of Sagishima. Designed by BIG, the resort is carved into the 30,000-m2 site’s mountainous terrain, surrounded on all sides by the Seto Inland Sea. The private four-bedroom villas and beach terrace restaurant – named ‘180’, ‘270,’ ‘360,’ and ‘90’ depending on location and corresponding views – lean into natural and local materials, including Japanese black slate, wood, and rammed earth, reflecting both Japan and Denmark’s long-held commitment to simplicity, craft, and material integrity. “NOT A HOTEL Setouchi are our first completed buildings in Japan, a culture that has had a profound impact on myself and my understanding of architecture; a place where fearless Futurism and deep traditional roots coexist in contrasting harmony. It has been an absolute architectural adventure to work with NOT A HOTEL to make this vision come to life. The archipelago around Sagishima is like a Japanese landscape painting. Steep rolling hills covered in lush green vegetation erupt from the tranquility of the Seto Inland Sea. The four pavilions are conceived as extensions of the dramatic topography. Hilltops and peninsulas, outcroppings and canyons are outlined by rammed earth walls and solar roofs to provide pavilions with 360-, 270-, 180-, and 90-degree views of the surrounding scenery. On one hand, each home is like an inhabited view, open and extroverted. On the other, their spinal walls outline a private and protected space – open only to the sky. Macrocosmos meets microcosmos, traditional meets modern; Scandinavian and Japanese, the villas are architectural oxymorons embodying seemingly contradictory elements into a holistic hospitable whole.” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG
