SSH No.03 is the third piece of architecture to open at Shishi-Iwa House Karuizawa, the ambitious Japanese hotel that taps into the potential of quality architecture to impact emotions and enhance wellbeing.

The new Japanese architecture addition comprises a scattering of minimalist black ’boxes’, appearing to float in the forest, separate yet connected, with hovering walkways, corridors and hidden gardens just visible through the trees. An unfolding dialogue between nature and architecture takes centre stage. SSH No.03 is the brainchild of Ryue Nishizawa and marks the established Japanese architect’s first hotel project, set to open in May 2023 in Karuizawa, the scenic mountain town an hour by bullet train from Tokyo. 

(Image credit: Kenichi Suzuki)

Shishi-iwa House’s SSH No.03 by Ryue Nishizawa

Nishizawa’s creation sits alongside two existing timber structures designed by fellow Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban. The spaces are just minutes apart on foot, surrounded by forests and mountains.

SSH No.03 consists of a modular network of ten, discrete two-storey pavilions, defined by angular tilted roofs, black façades of charred cedar cladding and cut-out windows. In a sharp visual contrast, the interiors offer a distinct sense of lightness – with every structural element (from floors to ceilings, walls, cupboards, and bathtubs) wrapped in pure white aromatic hinoki cypress wood, a long-revered Japanese species typically used in imperial residences, shrine and temples.

A sense of transparency and a blurring of boundaries – between humans and nature, light and dark, inside and out – were key elements in the design, according to Nishizawa, founder of Office of Ryue Nishizawa and co-founder of Tokyo architectural studio SANAA.

(Image credit: Kenichi Suzuki)

’SSH No.03 is about the co-existence of nature and architecture,’ explains Nishizawa. ’We were asked if it would be possible to transform a traditional Japanese architectural style into something contemporary, in relation to a wooden structure. We came up with the idea of several pavilions scattered through nature, without creating one single big box architecture. People can feel inside and outside at the same time. There is a sense of transparency in terms of spatial and temporal flow.’

Beneath its contemporary form and minimalist lines, SSH No.03’s foundations are rooted in traditional Japanese wood architecture. Key to this is Nishizawa’s use of a centuries-old tatami mat measurement system for the project, resulting in deeply complex jigsaw puzzle-like calculations that form the structure.