Kawayu Midoriya

Near the World Heritage site of the Kumano Kodo in Wakayama, an established riverside destination has found new life. The view at Kawayu Midoriya is not an object inside the hotel. It is the green wall of the Kumano forest framed by a guest-room window, where the river remains close enough to shape the day’s light and pace. The studio has renewed this landmark by treating the landscape and the building’s own history as the primary luxury. Mitsui Designtec Co., Ltd. calls this approach New Nostalgia. The phrase implies a selective method. Original wooden lattice ceilings and pillars are retained, cleaned, and brought into new relationships. Their age gives the public rooms gravitas, while new counters, lighting, and furniture sit beside them with enough distinction to be understood as contemporary additions. Arrival is calm. A curved reception counter glows at its base beneath the low timber ceiling, while stone-like surfaces and soft pools of light guide the eye and maintain the older structural rhythm. The lobby opens laterally, avoiding a monumental axis. Guests move among columns, seating, and views, discovering smaller territories suited to waiting, conversation, or looking towards the garden. Opposites define the narrative: vintage and modern, Japanese and Western, river ripple and fire. These pairings appear through the atmosphere. One finds the reflection of light along a dark counter, the warmth of a lamp against old timber, a contemporary chair placed on tatami-like flooring, or a restrained artwork whose cracked surface suggests currents, embers, or the accumulated marks of time. Guest rooms extend this logic to a domestic scale. Light timber, pale flooring, and low furniture create a quiet field around the existing architectural frame. A Western bed and sofa coexist with Japanese proportions, screens, and alcove-like display areas. The rooms offer contemporary comfort while retaining the measured horizontality and material warmth associated with the region’s hospitality. Windows serve as destinations in their own right. A writing desk faces the forest view; a bench invites guests to sit close to the glass; in the bath and sauna areas, timber-lined thresholds lead towards water and greenery. Little additional decoration is required when landscape is given sufficient presence. Forest colour becomes part of the interior palette, shifting with the weather. Reuse grants the project environmental credibility. Retaining lattice ceilings and pillars reduces waste, but the more lasting benefit is cultural. Returning guests recognize the building they once knew. The renovation celebrates previous life while positioning new hospitality requirements around it. Kawayu Midoriya demonstrates that renewal can be generous. This New Nostalgia is neither an immaculate period set nor a generic nature resort. It is a dialogue among a building, its returning visitors, and the Kumano landscape, in which contemporary design provides comfort and clarity, allowing the forest, river, and existing timber to carry a deeper sense of place.

Despite being situated in an overdeveloped resort landscape, Kawayu Midoriya falls short of delivering a truly compelling experience, relying on calculated restraint that feels overly austere. The design team attempts a dialogue between original structural features and modern additions, but the resulting space feels more uninspired than intentionally preserved. Rather than framing the Kumano scenery, the interior layout seems hesitant and underdeveloped, missing the opportunity to make a memorable impression. The overall effect is less of an authentic anchor and more of an understated space lacking a clear identity.

“New Nostalgia” is often a hollow marketing term, yet here, it acts as a genuine design methodology. The intelligence of this project lies in its editing, knowing exactly what to preserve and what to strip away. There is a palpable sense of memory in the retained timber lattice, and by keeping that weight, the designers have granted themselves the freedom to keep the new interventions light, precise, and unencumbered. It serves as a reminder that luxury today is not about excess, but about the clarity of one’s surroundings. The hotel succeeds not because of what it added, but because it cleared the path for the guest to finally see exactly where they are.

Image 01 — Reception A curved dark counter sits beneath retained timber ceilings and beside substantial columns. Concealed base lighting gives the new intervention a lighter presence without competing with the existing structure. Image 02 — Lobby concept and elevations The combined presentation shows the open lobby, framed garden view and the “New Nostalgia” material study. Elevations translate the concept through dark timber, patterned surfaces and controlled colour accents. Image 03 — Public lounge Circular ceiling elements and globe lights soften the grid of beams and columns. Low partitions preserve long views, allowing separate seating groups to share one continuous room. Image 04 — Guest room and balcony Pale flooring, low furniture, and warm joinery create a calm interior around a broad opening to the trees. Japanese spatial restraint accommodates Western seating without creating a stylistic divide. Image 05 — Guest-room living area A simple composition of sofa, low table, media wall and artwork keeps the centre open. Timber bands frame the room and direct the eye towards daylight. Image 06 — Writing desk to forest The desk is placed directly against the window, making work or reflection part of the landscape experience. The forest supplies the room’s strongest colour and movement. Image 07 — Bath, river and room plans The montage connects timber bathing space with the Kawayu river and two guest-room layouts, demonstrating how interior renewal is organized around direct contact with nature. Image 08 — Artwork detail A fine cracked pattern catches a focused wash of warm light. Its ambiguous reading—river network, aged surface, or embers—supports the project’s dialogue among water, fire, and time.

The submitted room diagrams show at least two configurations, identified as Sansui and Ryokusui. Both organize sleeping and living zones around a generous external edge, but vary the positions of the bath, service core, and seating. This establishes different relationships with the river and the forest without abandoning a consistent material language. In the Sansui plan, a compact service and bathing zone sits to one side, leaving the principal room open towards the view. In Ryokusui, the central living area and the longer perimeter create a more layered progression from the entrance, through rest, to the external outlook. Furniture remains low so that sightlines continue across the room. The public-area presentation indicates that the retained columns and ceiling grids will serve as the framework for the new reception and lounge zones. Circulation passes around rather than through a single object, creating several places to pause while maintaining a visual connection to the garden. No complete architectural plan or section was supplied; this reading is limited to the submitted room diagrams, elevations and photographs.

Midoriya, home to the lush natural beauty of "Kawayu," is nestled in the sacred Kumano area, just a stone's throw from the World Heritage Kumano Kodo. Guided by the concept of "NEW NOSTALGIA," we strive to be a one-of-a-kind destination hotel. By honoring the rich history and culture of Kawayu Midoriya while interweaving modern elements, we offer a "new yet nostalgic" timeless experience. Our storytelling is born from the harmony of opposites: the fusion of vintage and modern, the blending of Japanese and Western cultures, and the mesmerizing dance of river ripple and fire. Respecting the site’s heritage, we leveraged its inherent potential by repurposing the original wooden lattice ceilings and pillars. This approach not only ensures longevity but also crafts a sustainable sanctuary. Above all, we have curated an experiential value that prioritizes a seamless dialogue with nature—the site’s most captivating asset.