A Contemporary Machiya Shaped by Craft, Culture, and the Poetry of Space
Singapore-based Brewin Design Office has crafted the interior design of Capella Kyoto, opening in Spring 2026 in the city’s historic Gion district. Working alongside architects Kengo Kuma and Associates, the design draws on Kyoto’s cultural heritage and Brewin’s contemporary approach to luxury to establish a clear interplay of craft, materiality, and atmosphere. The property presents a modern-day machiya, reflecting the city’s architectural sensibilities through a sequence of considered spaces, expressed alongside a quiet composition of light, texture, and refined detailing.
Capella Kyoto is located in Miyagawa-cho and is built on the grounds of a former elementary school. Steps from Kyoto’s oldest Zen temple, Kenninji, and the historic Kaburenjo Theatre, the property draws on the neighbourhood’s deep cultural lineage, embodying a spirit of learning and artistry, articulated through a contemporary Kyoto vernacular that is both familiar and unexpected. The site’s past is not erased; rather it is reinterpreted. Incorporating reclaimed timber and select artefacts from the former school grounds, the hotel retains a connection to its history, offering an authenticity and sense of continuity unique within Kyoto’s luxury landscape.
A Choreographed Arrival
Guests enter through a narrow Gion-style passageway lined with shoji screens that soften the sound of a hidden waterfall. The approach is intentionally prolonged — unfolding through a series of gentle intervals that naturally slow one’s pace and heighten awareness of the surroundings. This calibrated progression echoes the neighbourhood’s pattern of discovery, where movement through slender alleyways gives way to moments of quiet reveal. This journey carries a gentle sense of anticipation, culminating in a modern airlock framing a sculptural reimagination of the shimenawa, a sacred rope marking the transition from the everyday and the contemplative.
Beyond this threshold, the hotel opens into a cloistered tsuboniwa courtyard garden, which is the heart of the property. The courtyard integrates a meditative water feature and an open-air performance platform, establishing a spatial calm that guides the entire project and echoes Kyoto’s reverence for nature as architecture’s equal.
Craft as a Structure
Kyoto’s craftsmanship forms the backbone of the interior design. Rather than using traditional materials as decorative accents, Brewin Design Office employs them as architectural building blocks. Hand-applied earthen plaster walls, carved timber joinery influenced by chōba tansu merchant chests, and authentic shoji panels composed with precision and restraint. Lacquer, bronze, ceramic and handmade washi paper appear throughout, their tactility creating a rhythm of surfaces that reward close observation.
“Kyoto’s mastery lies in its restraint,” says Robert Cheng, Founder of Brewin Design Office. “Our ambition was to express its invisible qualities – stillness, rhythm, material intelligence – through the language of design rather than decoration.”
Spaces Conceived as an Architectural Palimpsest
Every major space carries a conceptual lineage:
- The Living Room takes its cue from the softly glowing form of a traditional andon In keeping with Capella’s approach to hosted experiences, it serves as a bridge between guest and city — a welcoming, hosted space that acts as a portal for engagement, connection, and orienting guests to the rhythms of Kyoto.
- Capella’s signaturerestaurant channels the intimate ambience of an ochaya, a traditional Japanese tea house, reinterpreted for modern dining. The restaurant is comprised of two sequential spaces, beginning in a residential-style living room curated with objects collected from the chef’s travels, each with its own story and spirit. Guests then move into the dining space, designed almost as an extension of the chef’s own kitchen — fully open to view so guests can observe every gesture while enjoying a seasonally driven menu prepared before them.
- The Japanese restaurant incorporates reclaimed wood and handcrafted lights, sourced directly from the former elementary school, celebrating both sustainable reuse and the continuity of the site’s legacy. Conceived as an elevated late-night dining venue – uncommon in Kyoto’s largely casual after-hours scene – it offers excellent food, great drinks, curated music, and a sophisticated ambience that together fill a gap in the city and introduce a distinctive new option for night-time dining.
- For all-day-dining, Capella will offer a French brasserie, reimagined through the quiet elegance and craftsmanship of Kyoto. It blends Parisian sophistication — marble, herringbone floors, refined detailing — with the serene, intentional, nature-focused sensibility of Japanese design. The space feels soft, luminous, and poetic, defined by columns inspired by Japanese ornamental language, pale woods, delicate woven textures, and subtle floral compositions that act as natural partitions. Every element is curated to feel calm, airy, and understated, creating a dining environment that is both luxurious and grounded in simplicity. Ultimately, the concept is about harmonising two worlds: the indulgent allure of French pâtisserie culture and the contemplative, sensory refinement of Kyoto.
Guestrooms as Private Retreats
Guestrooms and suites act as private sanctuaries, centering the Japanese ritual of bathing. Deep stone tubs anchor each room, framed by muted surfaces and tactile finishes that invite slowness and contemplation. The design prioritises sensory quiet — a distilled interpretation of Kyoto’s aesthetic of simplicity.
“At Capella Kyoto, every design decision serves a deeper purpose: to slow time, heighten awareness, and create space for cultural immersion that reveals the authentic spirit of place,” says John Blanco, Cluster General Manager, Capella Kyoto. “The architecture and interiors don’t merely frame experiences; they orchestrate a journey of discovery that honours both Kyoto’s rich legacy and the intimate, bespoke hospitality that defines Capella.”
A Curated Dialogue of Art and Architecture
Capella Kyoto is the result of a collaboration between Brewin Design Office, Capella Hotel Group, and Kengo Kuma & Associates – a collaboration that brings together architecture, interiors, and hospitality through a shared belief in quiet luxury and cultural continuity.
While Kengo Kuma & Associates led the architectural design, Brewin Design Office shaped the interior narrative, from guestrooms and suites to restaurants and the spa, translating the architectural rhythm into a layered, sensory experience that unites proportion, texture, and light.
“Rather than replicating tradition, we sought to evolve its essence through a contemporary lens,” Cheng explains. “It’s about carrying forward Kyoto’s spirit of discretion and intimacy, not merely referencing its past.”
Capella Kyoto’s interiors extend beyond spatial design into a curated dialogue between art and architecture. The hotel houses a permanent art collection featuring contemporary Japanese artists, curated by the property’s full-time Art Curator. This ongoing narrative of renewal is reinforced by the Artist-in-Residence programme, where traditional artisans and modern creatives intersect in the hotel’s public and private spaces.
