Ryogoku Yuya Edoyu Spa
Spaces that can be Enjoyed by Wandering –  Ryogoku Yuya Edoyu is a spa facility facing Hokusai Street, located in between the Edo-Tokyo Museum and the Sumida Hokusai Museum. We designed an annex to the existing public bathhouse. Our addition increased the total floor space of the facility twofold. We furthermore completely renovated the facility while keeping a certain portion of the existing interior intact. While staying true to Hokusai’s world, in our design, we also tried to emphasize the concept of the word ?yu? in Edo-yu, which means ?freely wandering and enjoying.? Our design thus allows the facility’s visitors to enjoy the experience of wandering through various “nooks of comfort” created throughout the bathhouse. Courtesy of Nacasa & Partners
Facade reminiscent of noren (bathhouse curtains) wavering in the wind – Our facade design seeks to recall the image of fresh, whitish gray bathhouse noren (split curtains hung outside the bathhouse entrance) wavering refreshingly in the wind. Aluminum panels punctured with an Edo komon pattern (Hokusai loved komon patterns, which are intricate dye patterns that were popular during the Edo period) contain vertical slits that blur the joint between the new annex and the existing building, making the two buildings appear as a unified whole.
The seigaiha pattern (depicting waves in the blue ocean) pierced in the facade gradually disappears as it nears the uppe...