9 h - Nine Hours Capsule Hotel in Kyoto

credit: designboom.com

9 h (nainawasu) is a new capsule hotel that offers luxury in a minimum living space. The 9 h capsule hotel and all amenities were designed by fumie shibata of design studio s,
which she founded in 1994. With her team, she defined the elements necessary for a 'minimal transit space' in big cities in japan. The product designer has been pursuing
the 9h project as a creative director for 3 years.


The first hotel opened in December last year, located in Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto, located on Teramachi street between department store fujii daimaru and convenience store AMPM,
two minutes walk from Kawaramachi station. The building itself will be 9 stories tall, will host 125 capsules, locker rooms, showers, and a lounge.



exhibition at AXIS gallery



exhibition view





A comfortable place to rest ... 1 hour shower, sleep for 7 hours, have a one hour break / total 9h. Guests can spend up to 17 hours in a single stay - the price for one night is ¥ 4900.



Each capsule includes panasonic's advanced system for good sleeping by computerized control lighting.



Room environment by panasonic / matsushita electric works.
According to the time set, the light will wake you up.



The bed sheets are of the same quality as those that are used in a four-star hotel.



rear view of capsule



side view



graphic design by masaaki hiromura


toothbrush


shampoo, conditioner, body soap


bottled water taken at the foot of mount fuji


amenity slippers


images of the process of designing


tooling prototypes

Japan's first capsule hotel made its appearance in Osaka in 1979, and was designed by
architect kisho kurokawa.

Heidelberg

Heidelberg is one of the beautiful cities in Southwest Germany, located in the north of Baden-Württemberg state. This city is well-known as a University city so you will see lots of international students walk around.

Heidelberg's train station is located a bit far from downtown. People take tram or bus to go in the city center, called "Bismarkplatz". You can also travel on foot if you want to see the city which takes about 20 minutes.

At Bismarkplatz, there is a main shopping street. Along side there are many souvenir shops, ice cream shops, bars, and restaurants (food from around the world for sure). Keep walking on this street will lead you to an old city zone and also an old university since 18th century. University's library is still in used today. At the back of the university there is a small way which people can walk up to the castle. Heidelberg castle is one of few castles in this area which were not badly destroyed during the World War II. Nowaday it is renovated to be a Medical Museum. At the back of the castle there is a geometrically designed terraces of a Renaissance garden. From there you can the beautiful scenic view of the whole city.

Walking down the castle back to the city, you will enjoy seeing churchs, old buildings, and buying some souvenirs along the way which leads to the river "Neckar". You will find an old red-brick bridge which used to be a city's gate before. At the bridgehead there is a bronze lion. People believe that if you touch this lion you will have a chance to come back here agian.