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Architects: Nikken Sekkei
- Area: 283 m²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Koji Horiuchi, Shin Syashin Koubou, Tomoki Kawasaki
Text description provided by the architects. Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono is a year-round luxurious mountain resort located in the pristine heart of Niseko’s Hanazono area that opened in January 2020. Niseko is renowned as an international winter ski resort, and also offers seasonal outdoor activities such as hiking, mountain biking and river rafting in the remainder of the year. The facility’s contemporary chapel reflects Japanese aesthetics, in harmony with the four seasons. The chapel is located in the functional village built around the courtyards, separate from the guestroom facilities.
As in traditional Japanese Noh Theater, the chapel façade faces the front garden pond, with the reflected image enhancing its “floating grand roof” effect. The pond itself features two different areas of depth. The water level can be adjusted, yielding an outdoor seating area suitable for a concert or other outdoor event. The chapel’s floating grand roof is symbolic of traditional Japanese architecture, and helps to achieve the “open” feeling of the interior. At 20m in length, the roof effectively blurs the boundary between indoor and outdoor areas.
With a pristine birch forest in the background and ample space between the front garden pond and the backyard, guests can enjoy a quasi-outdoor resort wedding experience along with the seasonal shift in scenery. Warm, elegant and “neutral” in nuance, the chapel has been designed as a multipurpose facility ideal for hosting private dining, buffets, seminars, conferences and concert events. Sliding doors native to traditional Japanese architecture allow for high customizability.
For example, by opening the 10m-long triple sliding doors, the nave (center portion) of the chapel can be extended to the outdoor stage area. Opening the entrance hall’s 4m-wide double sliding doors allows for additional functionality as a foyer, etc. High side lighting between the two pitched roofs, along with stained glass positioned above the gable wall, allow different expressions of light to enter, according to the prevailing climate, season and time of day. Thick steel rods connect the roofs, which are supported by reinforced concrete walls on both ends, leaving a 20m-long unobstructed space underneath.
Mechanical and electronic equipment have been kept out of sight in order to enhance the guest experience. Linear lighting fixtures, for example, have been embedded in the roof connecting rods. Ceiling illumination lights, automated spotlights for the wedding aisle, and tall altar-side speakers are camouflaged in identical wall tile color fabric. The air-conditioning system maintains the spatial aesthetic, and features an under-floor chamber suited for cold weather needs. It employs understated window-side air outlet grilles and concealed air-return inlets in the roller blind head box.
