Client
KANOLLY Resorts, Tokyo

Architecture
GENETO Architects, Koji Yamanaka – Yuji Yamanaka – Asako Yamashita

Photos
Yasutake Kondo

Completion
2022

Project Team DAY & LIGHT
Frank Vetter
Julia Wallner

In the northwest of Nagano Prefecture, at the foot of the 3,000m-high Northern Japan Alps, lies Hakuba, the birthplace of Japanese skiing.

The modern Nobel Chalet from KANOLLY Resorts needs no brocade, gold trim, or Swiss Heidi appeal to present itself with confidence. The young and innovative architectural firm GENETO (Kyoto and Tokyo), appointed as part of a competition, designed a three-part building complex that blends harmoniously into the mountain village with a restrained but tasteful design language and materiality.

The three-part building complex echoes the mountain silhouettes of the dominant peaks Yarigatake, Shakushidake, and Shiroumadake, and is guided by the climatically influenced regional building style with steep roofs to withstand heavy snowfall. Through the transparency of the facade and the views, the surrounding nature becomes a more perceptible component of the spaces. Light enhances this transparency, connecting the interior and exterior, and making the structure, colour, and form of the natural materials tangible: local wood and Teppei stone.

The interiors offer a luxury that is neither glamourous nor ostentatious. Instead, it provides an experience of natural materials and forms, conveying a relaxed sense of „home“ rather than „hotel“, with a touch of Japanese wabi-sabi.