Category: Hotel
Location: Nagano, Japan
Architect: Azuma Architect & Associates / Rie Azuma
Lighting designer: Masanobu Takeishi / ICE Inc.
Photographer: Shinji Aratani
Products: PH Artichoke, PH Louvre, PH Snowball
With its dramatic forested setting and towering ceilings, the main lobby of the Hoshinoya Karuizawa
luxury hotel needed a special touch. Lighting designer Masanobu Takeishi, of Tokyo-based lighting
design studio ICE, decided to use a classic design by Poul Henningsen: the PH Louvre pendant.
It’s the perfect way to welcome guests to a place which is truly unique.
Although only an hour by train from Tokyo, Hoshinoya Karuizawa feels a world away. Surrounded by forest, the hotel offers warm hospitality and amazing food in a beautiful natural setting. It even has its own hot spring.
PH Louvre is a wonderful decorative addition to Hoshinoya Karuizawa, but it is also much more than just a beautiful object. The form and finish of each Louvre is precision-designed to create uniform, glare-free light, contributing to a calm, natural ambience. The fitting has also been used in the reception for the spa, and more Poul Henningsen designs were chosen for other areas.
In the dining area hangs a single PH Artichoke – a bold statement that lends the space an exclusive feel.
The smaller PH Snowball pendant, whose design echoes the PH Louvre, can also be seen in the hotel.
Each of these luminaires shares common design elements, executed differently. In this way, lighting fulfils the different needs of the various parts of the hotel, while also providing a unifying thread that ties the whole of Hoshinoya Karuizawa together.
