It is meaningless unless you make something that is smashed through.
You mentioned earlier that you wanted to "create a view of the city." Did you have a desire to create a facility rooted in Kabuto-cho?
Honma:Personally, I don't think much about being rooted in the community. However, I do think that the background and history of this financial district is important. That is a story, isn't it? There is no point in ignoring the story of the town. I think it is important to understand the background and what to do with it. However, I feel that all three of us here have different stances on this.
Matsui:I like cities. I like cities. I like to see how they change, how good places go bad, how bad places recover, and so on. I am interested in how cities change.
Kabuto-cho is a financial district. However, as trading became more electronic, people and companies moved away from Otemachi. However, I am interested in how the town will be revitalized by the construction of K5. That is why I think this place needs to become a facility that no one has ever seen before.
Honma:Yes, we all agree that we want to create a place that no one has ever seen before. Even though there are differences in how each of us perceives it, it is meaningless if we don't create something that is out of the ordinary.
Did you talk about this when the project was launched? Did you talk about it when the project was launched?
Matsui:That has changed quite a bit. We started out by saying that we were going to build a hotel here, but recently we have come to the conclusion that "this is no longer a hotel" (laughs). (Laughs.) Of course there is a hotel, but what we are trying to do is not to build a hotel.
Oka:Going back to my earlier discussion of the background, I have a gray image of Kabuto-cho, for better or worse. Its role as a financial center has shifted to Otemachi and Marunouchi, and all that remains are stone buildings, some of which look cool on the outside but are empty on the inside. What we are given to do in such places is to infuse energy into them. That is why we do not want to create a single hotel, but rather a bar, restaurant, and beer hall, each on an equal footing, where people with various purposes can gather.
Honma:To begin with, the "Nihonbashi Kabutocho/Kayabacho Revitalization Project" has a concept. Our mission is to revitalize the town. Therefore, it is most important to make the town more interesting with this hotel as a starting point, not the end. To achieve this, we thought it was essential to first energize the people, and to do this, it was essential to open their senses and let them feel. This is how we came up with the concept of "Sensuous Hotel. In short, it is a hotel where one can "feel with all five senses. This concept is still alive and well today, and everyone is aware of it.
Usually a project will fall apart if the direction is not kept in check, but this time, everyone was able to proceed with the concept in their minds without any nagging. There was not a lot of disparity in judgment.
Why do you think that is?
Honma:I think there are three factors. One is that the concept was clear. The other is that the range of the concept and the capacity was large. The last factor is that we simply get along well with each other (laughs).
Not only the three of us, but also the restaurant and bar tenants, the Swedish design team "Claesson Koivisto Rune (CKR)", the architectural design team "ADX", and the planting company "Yardworks". We just have a lot of fun when we meet for drinks, and we can work with the same intensity. That kind of project is very rare. In other words, everyone feels each other's presence, and there is not much conflict.
Do you continue to work and feel each other out and come up with ideas all the time?
Honma:Yes, that's right. That's really true.
Matsui:They don't make up their minds. We discuss until the last minute, and then change again at the last minute (laughs). (Laughs.) If we do that, there will be some wrinkles somewhere. But everyone understands this, so we are able to understand each other.
Oka:There were many moments when creativity surpassed logic. Creativity that exceeded our imagination was born, and we all agreed that we should do it even if it meant exceeding the constraints of time, budget, and effort.
