The DNA: In 2016 Yuta Takeda proposed to his father that they turn their 37-year-old family-run business hotel into a creative hub for both visitors and the residents of the predominantly apparel wholesale area of Bakurocho in East Tokyo. ’I wanted to rethink the role of an urban hotel,’ he explains over coffee in the Abno lounge and bar on the first floor of the newly completed hotel. Called DDD Hotel – which stands for Design, Development, Destination – the property’s interiors are the work of detail-equilibrist Koichi Futatsumata who, along with designing the minimal, yet pleasing blueprint for the 122 rooms, also outfited the on-site Parcel gallery, the experimental kitchen/laboratory/restaurant Nôl and the Abno lounge. Stained moss-green wood panels, wooden blinds and jalousie doors holds the design together throughout with added splashes of colour and textures provided by the lush midnight blue carpeting and bespoke gas-fire in the lounge area and rough black powder coated walls, ceilings and lamps in the Nôl kitchen space. With only eight seats, Nôl is no conventional restaurant. Chef Hajime Koto only plans to pull off 3-4 dinners a month as well as doing out-of-house catering when time allows.

Seen: domus, Wallpaper*

✅ free Wi-Fi • size matters: 122 rooms & suites (14-40m2) (151-431 sq ft) • hotel opened: 2019 • street parking (charged) • no pets allowed • 24-hour front desk