Slipping into the higher tiers of the Maki & Associates-designed Blue Entrance Shibaura South Tower, the Fairmont Tokyo lodge (the model’s debut in Japan) settles at a top the place the skyline begins to blur into the horizon. Spanning ranges 35 to 43, it sits simply far sufficient above the streets for town’s noise to fade away and the views to take over. Inside, the strains keep clear, the palette restrained, and each room is attuned to Tokyo’s shifting mild. The journey begins within the street-level foyer, the place Serene, the resident Labrador and chief happiness officer, provides a delicate welcome earlier than your ascent skyward. Conceived as a spot for each locals and travellers, the lodge leans into town’s contrasts.
Wallpaper* checks in at Fairmont Tokyo
What’s in your doorstep?
The stately lodge sits inside Blue Entrance Shibaura, a brand new waterfront improvement in a district that isn’t all the time the plain selection for a Tokyo keep, but provides a shocking sense of calm and a transparent vantage level on the bay. As soon as a fishing village and a transport hub, Shibaura nonetheless carries an industrial undertone, however stays well-connected and atmospheric. The Edo-period Kyu-Shiba-rikyū Gardens are a brief stroll away, with Hamarikyu Gardens additional alongside the waterfront. Hamamatsucho Station on the Yamanote Line gives fast entry to Shibuya, Harajuku and town’s livelier quarters, whereas the close by Zojo-ji Temple, which stands subsequent to Tokyo Tower, additional anchors the realm with a dose of historical past.
The terrace encompasses a sculpture by Vidé Création, impressed by the hyperlink between earth and sky
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
Who’s behind the design?
Conceived by Melbourne-based boutique observe Bar Studio, the design embraces the realm’s bayfront calm, dissolving the road between inside and exterior with large, double-height glazing that pulls the panorama straight into the room. On degree 35, the foyer lounge flows onto a landscaped terrace the place you possibly can catch a salty trace of the bay.
Gentle lighting and lounge seating create a way of welcome on the floor flooring arrival lounge and bell desk
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
‘We sought to create a hyperlink within the design between Tokyo’s contrasts of conventional and up to date, calm and vitality, fashionable tradition and the intrinsic reference to nature that has a wealthy heritage in Japan. We additionally wished to seize a way of formality,’ explains Lucas Chirnside, design director at Bar Studio. The design language all through focuses on intimacy, harnessing heat tones, tactile supplies and atmospheric lighting, prioritising the pure richness of supplies and plush finishes all through the lodge.
The concierge desk at degree 35’s sky foyer connects to the out of doors landscaped lounge terrace. A glass pendant mild by Bar Studio is suspended above
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
Vue Mer foyer lounge on degree 35 encompasses a sculpture by UK-based Japanese artist Mari-Ruth Oda and a cascading {custom} chandelier by Bar Studio
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
Most furnishings and lighting are bespoke Bar Studio creations, complemented by items from Giopato & Coombes, Lasvit, B&B Italia, Minotti and Molteni&C. As a particular contact, the lifts function a fragile set up developed with Wanda Barcelona, reimagining Japanese botanicals via intricate paper-cutting. Creative gestures proceed within the Vue Mer foyer lounge, the place a vibrant suspended work by Berlin-based artist Tomislav Topić nods to the translucency of washi paper. In the meantime, {custom} carpets in corridors and visitor rooms incorporate the graphic strains of Japanese Zen gardens.
Vue Mer foyer lounge is adorned with an ethereal suspended set up by Berlin-based artist Tomislav Topić that references Japanese washi paper
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
The room to e book
Fairmont Tokyo provides 217 rooms, starting from 52 to 278 sq m, located on the thirty sixth to forty second flooring. The Fairmont Gold suites have entry to a personal lounge serving connoisseur breakfasts, afternoon tea, night canapés and all-day drinks. The Fairmont Gold Tokyo Tower View King Suite retains town’s hum in body, with the crimson glow of the tower at night time and Le Labo Santal 33 facilities within the rest room.
Guestrooms at Fairmont Tokyo function textured wallcoverings, printed with paintings impressed by conventional Japanese weaving methods. Customized carpets echo the linear patterns of Japanese Zen gardens
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
Fairmont Tokyo’s Shibaura Suite incorporates a custom-designed work desk, completely positioned to benefit from the views over Tokyo Tower
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
Interiors nod to conventional Japanese structure – the genkan-style entry, engawa-inspired seating – and have karakami (woodblock) prints from printmaking duo Aiko and Takuma Noda and hand-drawn calligraphy by Shun-Yo, who makes use of crushed shell for luminous pearl pigments. ‘We’ve included the calm, pure shades of Japanese sen timber, cloud-white quartzite stone and brass. Guestroom loos function textured granite, evoking tranquil onsen rituals,’ explains Chirnside.
Bogs function pure textured granite, evoking a way of onsen rituals in an city retreat
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
Staying for drinks and dinner?
The lodge runs 5 distinct culinary rooms, from Mediterranean to French and fashionable Japanese. Afternoon tea anchors café Vue Mer; subsequent door, Kiln & Tonic serves pizzas, grills and charred seafood. Migiwa, a six-seat counter, focuses on seasonal seafood, whereas Totsuji handles Wagyu and a Parmigiano-crisped tackle okonomiyaki through teppanyaki.
Kiln & Tonic is a contemporary brasserie on degree 35, mixing Mediterranean and Southern Californian flavours. Indoor areas segue to an outside terrace going through Tokyo Tower
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
Vue Mer transitions from a lounge by day to a complicated bar within the evenings. Artwork set up is by Tomislav Topić
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
Driftwood turns Yōshoku (a Japanese type of Western-influenced delicacies) right into a luxe affair; assume scallops shoyu-yaki with edamame purée and caviar beurre blanc, or Kagoshima Megumi Black Pork Katsu in a home sauce. Its bar, Off Document, seems like a cocooned listening room of vinyl, uncommon spirits and soulful bites. Right here, Bar Studio designed a {custom} chandelier, which contains illuminated bubble-texture resin, making for a smooth glow.
Consuming and eating venues Yoi-to-Yoi standing bar and the adjoining Driftwood rooftop bar and restaurant are situated on Degree 43
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
A Bar Studio-designed {custom} chandelier at degree 43’s Driftwood bar and restaurant provides a dramatic design assertion
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
The place to change off
The spa on the thirty fifth flooring extends the lodge’s altitude-induced calm. ‘At Fairmont Spa, anticipate a soothing city retreat, drawing on heat tones and elemental, pure stone. The spa’s atelier centres on a monolithic quartzite island bench,’ says Chirnside. Therapies start with selecting your scent mix from seeds and spices.
Fairmont Spa’s atelier centres round a monolithic quartzite island bench
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
The ‘self-love’ magnesium ritual is the post-Tokyo antidote: dry brushing, heat basalt stones charged underneath the total moon, and a sluggish, restorative therapeutic massage. A 24-hour Technogym area provides full free weights and there are non-public studios for yoga and Pilates. Afterwards, drift into the 20m indoor infinity pool, pause on the out of doors sundeck or reset within the warmth of the sauna.
Fairmont Spa provides a soothing retreat with heat tones and elemental, pure stone
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
The decision
Japan is famously exacting in its method to hospitality, but Fairmont Tokyo (5 months in) feels decided and assured. Service is attentive with out theatrics; the Fairmont Gold lounge is a standout, letting company graze, decompress and recalibrate all day. The stability of serenity and metropolis vitality is deftly dealt with, a lot in order that staying indoors turns into its personal temptation.
Guestrooms embrace the bayside location with enjoyable areas to ponder the breathtaking views, together with Tokyo’s Rainbow Bridge
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Peter Bennetts)
Fairmont Tokyo is situated at Blue Entrance Shibaura Tower S, 1 Chome-1-1 Shibaura, Minato Metropolis, Tokyo 105-0023, Japan. Charges: from JPY 127,600
Supply: Wallpaper
