CASE STUDY
Brewin Design Office Unveils Design for Its First Hotel in Japan: Capella Kyoto
- BREWIN DESIGN-
A Contemporary Machiya Shaped by Craft, Culture, and the Poetry of Space Singapore-based Brewin Design Office has crafted the interior design of Capella Kyoto, opening in Spring 2026 in the city’ s historic Gion district. Working alongside architects Kengo Kuma and Associates, the design draws on Kyoto’ s cultural heritage and Brewin’ s contemporary approach to luxury to establish a clear interplay of craft, materiality, and atmosphere. The property presents a modern-day machiya, reflecting the city’ s architectural sensibilities through a sequence of considered spaces, expressed alongside a quiet composition of light, texture, and refined detailing.
Capella Kyoto is located in Miyagawa-cho and is built on the grounds of a former elementary school. Steps from Kyoto’ s oldest Zen temple, Kenninji, and the historic Kaburenjo Theatre, the property draws on the neighbourhood’ s deep cultural lineage, embodying a spirit of learning and artistry, articulated through a contemporary Kyoto vernacular that is both familiar and unexpected. The site’ s past is not erased; rather it is reinterpreted. Incorporating reclaimed timber and select artefacts from the former school grounds, the hotel retains a connection to its history, offering an authenticity and sense of continuity unique within Kyoto’ s luxury landscape.
A Choreographed Arrival Guests enter through a narrow Gion-style passageway lined with shoji screens that soften the sound of a hidden waterfall. The approach is intentionally prolonged— unfolding through a series of gentle intervals that naturally slow one’ s pace and heighten awareness of the surroundings. This calibrated progression echoes the neighbourhood’ s pattern of discovery, where movement through slender alleyways gives way to moments of quiet reveal. This journey carries a gentle sense of anticipation, culminating in a modern airlock framing a sculptural reimagination of the shimenawa, a sacred rope marking the transition from the everyday and the contemplative.
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