concrete brings the bright neon lights of osaka to japan's first W hotel

amsterdam-based studio, concrete, has completed the interior design of W’s first hotel in japan – hotel W osaka. inspired by osaka and its fascinating culture, the interior is envisioned to tell a story of the city, one which celebrates the contrast between japanese minimalism and the extravagance of an urban world saturated with color and flashing neon lights. the hotel was created for sekisui house and marriott international, and in collaboration with nikken and nikken space design, and it’s set to open in march 2021.

the living room

images courtesy of concrete

located within a 27-story high building, which features a black monolith façade designed by tadao ando, the hotel comprises a total of 337 guest rooms & suites. the main lounge area is called the ‘living room’ and it forms an abstraction of osaka’s neons: everything is arranged from purple to pink to orange to yellow to blue to green, with a wild cloud of rectangular lamps with zigzag light lines floating above it. picking up on the local people’s great sense of humor and love for manzai comedy, a rotating round crimson stage offers plenty of opportunities to perform. above the bar, rows of stylized japanese lanterns called chochin gently glow.

on the 3rd floor is the french brasserie inspired ‘oh.lala…’ restaurant, which connects to the living room by one continuous white, sheer curtain with sharp origami-style pleats. it flows from here to there and around again, visually merging all the different functions and areas of the 3rd floor. the continuous zigzag curtain comprehends the whole floor perimeter. the restaurant’s lights add sparkle from above with clouds of small ball pendants, suspended at different heights within the waves of the curtain.

down a long zigzag-curtain lined corridor hides a secret sushi restaurant called ‘ukiyo’, which has just 10 seats. artist lok jansen’s custom waterscape represents the flowing waters and shimmering creatures of a secret, underwater world.

tiling in shades of cobalt blue and grey granite flooring distinguishes the ‘WET’ pool area. above, a stepped cove ceiling mirrors the shape of the pool, with recessed RGB LED lighting that reflects the seasons in vibrant, cool colors.

the WET swimming pool

in the guest rooms, a grey tinted 2-way mirror conceals an ‘escape’ lighting feature that, when turned on, transforms the room with dramatic pink or blue diagonal stripes, inspired by osaka’s neon lights. each room has a sofa and a cocktail bar with two stools, which can also serve as a desk, overlooking osaka’s spectacular skyline.

guestroom at night

guestroom during the day