Image credit: Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Japanese hospitality startup NOT A HOTEL has unveiled plans for a new project designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel. Located on Yakushima, a UNESCO World Heritage island in southern Japan, the development will be titled NOT A HOTEL YAKUSHIMA.
Image credit: Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Yakushima is renowned for its ancient cedar forests and rugged natural environment; a landscape which the project seeks to engage with. The design of the scheme uses rock and glass as its primary materials, with the building intended to appear as though it rises organically from the earth. According to the team, the scheme will also incorporate local phenomena such as the shadows of rainfall and the sounds of water as part of the experience.
Image credit: Ateliers Jean Nouvel
“The most sophisticated things belong to nature—its landscapes, its paths, its reliefs, the views that will be revealed; everything else is absence,” Nouvel explained. “This project is not about creating for those who wish to live here, but about falling in love—with a tree, a blade of grass, or a stone. Like a collector of modern art, one finds in stones, gardens, or bare ground the ideal way to experience the island. It’s nature, it’s a place, it’s a work of art, it’s rain, it’s the sound of water.”
Image credit: Ateliers Jean Nouvel
“At its base lies the stone—a permanent presence, shaped by time, rain, and wind, carrying the patina of years,” Nouvel added. “Around it, rocks and blocks of stone are arranged with the ambition of creating something that feels as if it has always been here. The island is like a treasure, a place where everything can change—something can be added or removed— yet always offering the calm pleasure of contemplation. Here, time is constant, and calmness must be absolute, meditative.
Sales are scheduled to begin in summer 2026. News of the scheme comes weeks after sales began for NOT A HOTEL RUSUTSU, a mountaintop villa in Japan designed by Snøhetta. In July, meanwhile, Sou Fujimoto completed a circular villa for the network.
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