suppose design office inserts bookstore inside renovated hot spring hotel in japan

matsumoto honbako book hotel by suppose design office

suppose design office has completed ‘matsumoto honbako’, a 24-room hot spring hotel that features open-air baths in all guest rooms, as well as a bookstore and restaurant. located in japan‘s matsumoto city, the renovated property is a place where past and present intersect. designed as a complex cultural facility, the project is centered on books while retaining elements of the former hot spring inn, which has been in business for over 300 years. the large banquet hall and communal bath of the inn now house a restaurant and library space, where the japanese architecture studio has transformed an old pool into a reading corner surrounded by thousands of books. this area features red carpet on the floors, which references rust preventive paint and adds warmth to the reinforced concrete interior.

‘by creating a space in the bookstore and defining how to spend time there, we eliminated the boundary between books and people’s whereabouts, and considered the relationship between the different elements of accommodation and bookstores,’ explains suppose design office.all images courtesy by kenta hasegawa | OFP

A JAPANESE HOTEL where past and present intersect

‘matsumoto honbako’ is located in an indigenous japanese landscape surrounded by mountains on all sides, as well as a castle town. suppose design office has preserved the existing concrete skeleton of the old inn, and only removed the layers of thick paint that used to cover it. reinforced concrete is used throughout the renovated book hotel, while its material palette is complete with wooden elements, tiles, stone, metal and carpet. each of the property’s 24 rooms, which are spread across five floors, features its own open-air bath and wide views of the surroundings. aiming to create a cross between past and future, the architects have blended elements of the old onsen ryokan (hot spring inn) with new spatial additions. this is mostly evident on the hotel’s ground level, where the bookstore and restaurant have taken the place of the large bathhouse and banquet hall. ‘by preserving the memory of the onsen ryokan, we created a unique experience that does not easily occur in a new construction,’ the studio notes.

existing elements of the hot spring inn are maintained within the renovated space