Completed in 2019 by Singapore-based architect Kerry Hill and his team, the AMAN Kyoto Resort stands as a testament to the harmonious integration of architecture and nature. Located in the culturally rich city of Kyoto, Japan, the resort embodies the tranquil elegance of its surroundings. The resort, once conceptualized as the garden of a textile museum, masterfully blends into the existing natural landscape.
The resort unfolds across the beautiful landscape with whimsical stone pathways meandering gently along the forest floor, guiding visitors through the verdant tranquility of the grounds. Integral to the resort’s design are stone slabs blanketed in rich, velvety moss, which serve as the architectural foundations of the resort.
AMAN Kyoto Resort Technical Information
- Architects: Kerry Hill Architects
- Location: Kyoto, Japan
- Client: Aman
- Landscape Consultant: Design and Management, Inc.
- Topics: Total Black, Wood Structure, Resort
- Area: 32-hectare
- Project Year: 2019
- Photographs: © Courtesy of AMAN Kyoto Resort
Of course you can pin a label on us if you want to but I prefer to think of our work as simply building appropriately. Our aim is to emphasize the importance of sensual experience and an intuitive approach over theoretical speculation. I do not think you can find a reason for everything you make.
– Kerry Hill
AMAN Kyoto Resort Photographs
Aman Kyoto is a small luxury hotel that opened in late 2019. The secluded grounds are part of an artistic community that gave rise to the revered Rinpa school of painting 400 years ago. They are within easy reach of Kyoto’s most famous sites, including the stunning golden temple of Kinkakuji.
The site, which was introduced to Aman by Kerry Hill in 1995, is an 8-acre garden surrounded by forests established in the 1970s as a setting for a planned private textile museum. The project was then conceived to become a contemporary 26-suite ryokan. Using the existing established platforms in the garden for the new pavilions, the new zinc-roofed and timber-clad buildings are deliberately simple and reductionist to allow nature to dominate visually. The materials and proportions of the pavilions are intended to feel Japanese while not being traditional. Commissioned artworks and ceiling lanterns developed for the project complete the interiors.
Aman Kyoto’s latticed guest rooms are a contemporary homage to the traditional Ryokan inn, strikingly minimalist in their geometry, and each serving as a window onto their natural surroundings. The interiors are spacious and light-filled, ingeniously crafted to foster peace, relaxation, and contemplation at every turn.
Each of the 24 guestrooms features a contemporary reimagining of the traditional ryokan featuring minimalist aesthetics, floor-to-ceiling windows, tatami mats, and tokonoma. Neutral palettes complement the work of local artisans with the spaces incorporating handmade raku tile panels and custom-made ceramics.
The ofuro bathtubs in each bathroom are constructed from hinoki Cyprus wood native to central Japan. Simultaneously, all furniture has been designed and sits alongside artifacts selected individually for each space.
The resort has two dining areas; the Living Pavilion by Aman, with its central fireplace and glass doors opening onto a garden terrace, represents the heart of Aman Kyoto. Restaurant Taka-an pays homage to the influential painter and polymath Honami Koetsu, a pivotal figure in Kyoto’s cultural development during the 17th century. Meticulous design, a tranquil atmosphere, and remarkable kaiseki-style cuisine combine to create a quintessentially Japanese culinary experience.
The garden unfolds as a series of platforms within a valley enclosed by a small stream and wooded hill. Originally intended as platforms for the former owner’s planned museum of textiles, they now provide the foundations of the resort. Moss-covered stone pathways, some edged with cut-stone borders, are paved along with the site, while garden stairways and paths lead guests to the upper levels bordered with colorful Yama Momiji maples and Japanese cedar planted. The garden has also been designed to self-irrigate.
AMAN Kyoto Resort Plan
AMAN Kyoto Resort Image Gallery
About Kerry Hill
Kerry Hill (1943–2018) was an Australian architect renowned for his hospitality designs across Asia. Hill founded his studio, Kerry Hill Architects, in 1979. Among his first major projects were The Darwin Centre in Australia and the Sukhothai Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
He always focused on creating contextually sensitive buildings that drew on local styles, building techniques, and materials.
Other works from Kerry Hill Architects
