fumie shibata's '9 h (nine hours)' capsule hotel in kyoto

9 h (nainawasu) is a new capsule hotel that offers luxury in a minimum living space. the 9 h capsule hotel and all amenities were designed by fumie shibata of design studio s, which she founded in 1994. with her team, she defined the elements necessary for a ‘minimal transit space’ in big cities in japan. the product designer has been pursuing the 9h project as a creative director for 3 years.

exhibition view

the first hotel will opened in december this year, located in shimogyo-ku, kyoto, located onteramachi street between department store fujii daimaru and convenience store AMPM,two minutes walk from kawaramachi station. the building itself will be 9 stories tall, will host 125 capsules, locker rooms, showers, and a lounge.

a comfortable place to rest … 1 hour shower, sleep for 7 hours, have a one hour break / total 9h. guests can spend up to 17 hours in a single stay – the price for one night is ¥ 4900.

each capsule includes panasonic’s advanced system for good sleeping by computerized control lighting

room environment by panasonic / matsushita electric works — according to the time set, the light will wake you up.

the bed sheets are of the same quality as those that are used in a four-star hotel

rear view of capsule

side view

graphic design by masaaki hiromura

toothbrush

shampoo, conditioner, body soap

bottled water taken at the foot of mount fuji

amenity slippers

images of the process of designing

tooling prototypes

japan’s first capsule hotel made its appearance in osaka in 1979, and was designed by architect kisho kurokawa.