MIZU NO UTA

05/2009

Hokkaido Lake Shikotsu

Lake Shikotsu Tsuruga Resort Spa MIZU NO UTA

Task

Overall Planning/Concept Work/Logo Design/Interior-Design Planning/Sign Design

Restaurant Ware Design/Interior wear and Uniform Design/Promotional Tools Design/Furniture - Fixture Coordination

The Healing Power of Water

Our mission here became the renovation of an old onsen ryokan, called a "Kanko Hotel," into a new resort type, known as a "resort spa."

The source of the name "Mizu no Uta," or Song of Water, is Lake Shikotsu's mysterious blue-green water, which boasts extremely high water quality, even among Japan's clean lakes.

The word "spa" is derived from an ancient word for water, and to those ancient people who recognized water as the source of all life, water was sacred, the very stuff of life. Thus, we designed spaces and services incorporating a beauty- and health-themed program of nutrition, hot baths, fitness and sleep within the beautiful scenery of lake and forest. Buildings inside the Shikotsu-Toya National Park have extremely strict environmental conditions, but we wanted to erase all trace of the old buildings, so our renovation left only the old supports. We ran water through the hallways to create a sense of water and built calming gardens, all to realize a building befitting the name Mizu no Uta.

Mizu no Uta expertly leverages the lake topography, and has become a strong foothold for the Tsuruga Group's expansion into central Hokkaido.

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

Lake Shikotsu, Japan’s northernmost ice-free lake, was made through the eruptions of the volcanoes Mt. Eniwa, Mt. Fuppushi, Mt. Tarumae and Mt. Monbetsu, and the name comes from the Ainu phrase Shi Kotsu, meaning "great basin."

The color of Lake Shikotsu's water is known as "Shikotsu blue." The beautiful blue ice sculptures of the Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival, held annually from the end of January into February, are made by running the water of Lake Shikotsu through sprinklers and letting it freeze. Naturally, this blue became the blue theme color of Mizu no Uta.

MIZU NO UTA

Pass through the walkway from the welcome lounge, with its suikinkutsu earthenware jars, which resonate with the sound of water, to the main hotel.

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

In the Ainu language, water is Wakka, fire is Ape. The welcome lounge, with its suikinkutsu, is named Wakka; the lounge with a fireplace is named Apeso, meaning a sunken fire pit.
There are large cushions of tanned deer hide in Apeso. Embraced in these cushions, people can lounge and read or sip wine.

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

In the Ainu language, water is Wakka, fire is Ape. The welcome lounge, with its suikinkutsu, is named Wakka; the lounge with a fireplace is named Apeso, meaning a sunken fire pit.
There are large cushions of tanned deer hide in Apeso. Embraced in these cushions, people can lounge and read or sip wine.

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

You can enjoy the gardens in Hokkaido's most pleasant season. In summer, we open a hamburger shop here as well.

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

The guest rooms are also designed to create a sense of the open air.

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

MIZU NO UTA

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