Schemata Architects — °C Ebisu: Capsule Hotel — Tokyo, Japan

“°C (Do-C)” is a new business launched by nine hours, a company running a capsule hotel chain “9h (nine hours)” in the Tokyo metropolitan area. While the 9h hotels offer a new image of a contemporary capsule hotel by completely redesigning and building new capsules from scratch, the company decided to take a different approach in designing °C and commissioned Schemata Architects to renovate an existing capsule hotel.

The design aims to eradicate the image of the old capsule hotel by changing the interior and surroundings, while keeping the existing capsules as they are. The color of the existing capsules — an old-fashioned beige reminiscent of the retro design period — was rather difficult to handle, but was intentionally used it as a base color for the interior to eradicate the impression of the existing capsules. In addition, the existing surface finishes on the stairs in front of the building were completely removed to expose the structural members, which were then repainted with anti-corrosive paint for maintenance. The entire building was also painted in the same color as the anti-corrosive paint, which was designated as the signature color.