eeGee Stay: Reviving the Local Economy

Local Capsule Hotel for NRC architecture & design office

In Japan, both old buildings standing vacant and the economic decline of local shopping arcades have become major social problems. This capsule hotel was designed to address both issues while embracing sustainable, socially responsible design principles. Rather than building from the ground up, the hotel was constructed in an existing vacant building in order to better utilize resources. The design is deliberately minimalist in order to encourage visitors to patronize local shops, ultimately reviving the local economy and preserving the shopping arcade.

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eeGee Stay by Hajime Tsuruta

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eeGee Stay: Reviving the Local Economy Local Capsule Hotel Press Releases

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eeGee Stay: Reviving the Local Economy Local Capsule Hotel Media Articles

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Unique Properties

In Japan both old buildings standing vacant and the economic decline of local shopping arcades have become major social problems. This capsule hotel was designed to address both issues while embracing sustainable, socially responsible design principles. Rather than building from the ground up, the hotel was constructed in an existing vacant building in order to better utilize resources. Utilizing an extant building also ensured that the exterior design of the hotel would fit in with the surrounding businesses. Furthermore, renovating extant buildings is a more cost-effective strategy than constructing a new building. Savings from these cost-cutting measures are passed on to the end user in the form of lower prices, making the hotel more attractive to consumers (particularly the money-conscious youth demographic). Although shopping arcades were the main retail hubs in postwar Japan, recent redevelopment has pulled consumers away from the shopping arcades and into contained shopping malls. This hotel was designed with an eye towards minimalism in order to encourage visitors to patronize local shops, ultimately reviving the local economy and preserving the shopping arcade.

Tags

nature, hotel, cabin, renovation, wooden

Production Technology

OSB boards were assembled to form the wooden box to sleep and made 154 boxes for women, 152 boxes for men.

Design Challenge

A major challenge during the design process was designing and assembling the offset sleeping cabins. Cabins in higher and lower positions alternate along the walls of the hotel, and the interior shape features a step which creates an irregular ceiling in lower cabins. The cabins were originally manufactured in an offsite laboratory, requiring designers to be particularly precise in their measurements. When the cabins were assembled at the renovation site, a measurement error was discovered. The horizontal measurements of the cabins were slightly too large, and they did not fit into the existing building. The first run of cabins had to be reconstructed due to this error, delaying project completion by a week.

Project Duration

This wooden cabin hotel has opened on May.10th, 2019 in Saitama, Japan.

Operation Flow

Although capsule hotels are popular in Japan, most designs rely heavily on plastics. These artificial facades can be unwelcoming to the customer. The organic appearance of our urban forest offers a more relaxing alternative: an oasis within the city where customers can rest. The sleeping cabins emphasize ergonomic design. Designers collaborated with a manufacturer to create a proprietary hotel mattress to support sleepers' posture. Cabin ladders are also designed to minimize strain on the body.

Research

After researching other hotels to determine what features were considered most desirable by consumers, designers scouted shopping arcades on foot to find their location. The design team settled on the Ichiban-gai shopping arcade near Oomiya station. The team met with the local business bureau and managers of Ichiban-gai shops to discuss their plans. This allowed the designers to determine which businesses within Ichiban-gai would best supplement the hotel's lack of built-in amenities.

Inspiration

After World War II, shopping arcades were the main retail hubs in Japan. However, due to recent redevelopment and modernization in Japanese cities, huge suburban shopping malls have been drawing consumers away from the arcades, causing these old-fashioned shops to suffer. Many shops have already closed, and more are just waiting to shut down. Sometimes people call these shopping arcades "shutter streets" even though there are still many charming stores left behind. The driving motivation behind this renovation project was to attract new customers to a local shopping arcade, boosting the local economy. By producing a stripped-down capsule hotel without its own restaurant, cafe, or laundromat, this design pushes hotel customers back into the shopping arcade, where they will spend more money at local businesses. This design ultimately fosters a symbiotic relationship between the capsule hotel and its surrounding businesses. The visual design of this project was influenced by recent trends towards infusing natural features into urban areas. Discarding the boxy design of conventional capsule hotels, this project was conceived as a hidden forest within the shopping arcade. With an emphasis on wood and greenery, customers staying at this capsule hotel sleep nestled in private treehouses rather than in plastic boxes.

Image Credits

Non

Project Overview

eeGee Stay: Reviving the Local Economy Local Capsule Hotel has been a Bronze winner in the Interior Space and Exhibition Design award category in the year 2019 organized by the prestigious A' Design Award & Competition. The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.

Bronze Recognition

Hajime Tsuruta was recognized with the coveted Bronze A' Design Award in 2020, a testament to excellence of their work eeGee Stay: Reviving the Local Economy Local Capsule Hotel.

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eeGee Stay: Reviving the Local Economy

Hajime Tsuruta's Local Capsule Hotel Revives Saitama's Ichiban-gai Shopping Arcade

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