Janu Tokyo, the first hotel from Aman Group’s dynamic new brand, opened its doors on March 13, 2024. The atmosphere of the guest rooms & suites, wellness center, restaurants & bar, and reception—located on floors 1–13 of the Residence A building in Azabudai Hills—was shaped by Jean-Michel Gathy and his architectural design studio Denniston. We talk to Gathy about how he came up with the look of the new hotel.

TEXT BY Mari Matsubara
PHOTO BY Mie Morimoto
illustration by Geoff McFetridge

Gathy looks around the construction site.

In 2020, luxury hospitality company Aman Group unveiled its new brand, Janu, which made its global debut in Tokyo. The interior design of Janu Tokyo was the responsibility of Denniston, an architectural design firm that has already worked with Aman on twelve hotels around the globe. During a tour of the construction site in February 2023, the studio’s principal designer, Jean-Michel Gathy, explained his design choices while inspecting a mock-up guest room.

Note: The mock-up shown here represents a Premier Room (65 ㎡) and may differ from the final design.

This panel is finished with a decorative frame consisting of gray lines and grooves, reminiscent of the molding in a French mansion. Enclosed within the frame is an image of a traditional Japanese clay wall. (Photo© Aman Group)

——What can you tell us about the design concept for the guest rooms?

Gathy　When Mr. Vlad Doronin, the chairman and CEO of Aman, asked us to work on this project, he said he didn’t want a hotel that felt purely Japanese. There are already so many hotels with beautiful Japanese interiors and—especially if you go to the countryside—so many wonderful ryokans, or Japanese-style inns. In Janu Tokyo, he wanted a hotel that fits into its urban setting, with an interior that references the culture and flavor of Japan but in a distinctive way. So, we aimed for a style that blends European flair with traditional Japanese details.

The rooms are tranquil spaces composed of shades of gray, subtle variations of which can be found in the walls, furniture, and fabrics. (Photo© Aman Group)

The interior walls are a good example. They are finished with a decorative frame-like molding that is reminiscent of French paneling. In the traditional French style, like you might see in a palace or château, you would have timber panels with decorative engravings; here, we recreated the effect using simple, straight lines. These French-looking panels are installed in the guest rooms as well as in the public areas.

So, you have these elegant panels that hint at a European style, but they are combined with the clay walls found in traditional Japanese architecture. I have to say the contractor did an incredible job fusing the French neoclassical style and the tactile Japanese-style walls—made with straw and gravel and finished with plaster.

——Does the East-meets-West fusion hold true for the furniture as well?

A French-style pleated lampshade is concealed within a minimalist box-like lamp. (Photo© Aman Group)

Gathy　We incorporated the concept into everything we designed—the sofa, bed, table, armchairs, even the lighting. Take a look at the wall-mounted lamp by the bedside. During the daytime when light is pouring into the room and the lamp is turned off, you see only a simple lampshade in the shape of a square box. It’s extremely minimalist. But once night comes, and you turn the lamp on, the pleats of a classic French Renaissance lampshade become visible through the boxy outer shade. So, you can see how we’ve incorporated French details like this into the overall minimalist style.

Sliding doors that partition the bathroom off from the living space diffuse light, much like traditional shoji screens. (Photo© Aman Group)

——It sounds as though the interior presents a different face between day and night.

Gathy　Lighting is very important because you can change the mood of a room dramatically just by changing the lighting. There is a sliding door between the living space, where the bed is, and the area occupied by the bathroom and entrance. This divider is made up of panels, each with a relatively narrow pitch set into a frame reaching up to the ceiling—proportions that make them look like a row of vertical glass windows like you might see in a French artist’s atelier. At the same time, they also look like Japanese shoji screens because of the material inserted between the layers of glass, which is translucent like washi paper.

If you close the sliding door when the room is dark, it looks like a low-lit wall. But when you turn on the lights on the bathroom side, it transforms into a bright white wall. Incidentally, because the lighting of the entire guest room is well balanced and can be controlled with a single button, there is no need to individually dim the corner or bedside lights. It’s a very user-friendly system.

The bathroom, including the bathtub seen here, is separated from the living area by a set of sliding doors. (Photo© Aman Group)

The sliding door was inspired by traditional Japanese architecture, of course, so it’s another example of how we’ve combined elements of French and Japanese styles. You can open the door to create a single large space that is open and connected or close it at bedtime and turn off the lights, in which case the living space becomes a calm, private bedroom that feels detached from the bathroom area.

——Why did you decide to use this calm color scheme in the guest rooms?

Gathy　A hotel should first and foremost be a place of relaxation. When someone comes back to their room after a day of working or sightseeing, they will not be able to rest and relax if their eyes are confronted with bold colors and an eccentric interior. When it comes to color, I prefer to layer. Just like Versailles is decorated in various tones of gray, here the rooms are l ayered with similar tones of oyster gray, light gray, and brown, which are peaceful colors. In Europe, we like to use colors that are rustic and “bobo-chic” (bourgeois and bohemian), which only improve with age. But I think that people like these tones in Japan, too, and everywhere in the world. The gray tones also go well with the color of the clay wall and even give your complexion a healthy glow.

——What other thoughtful details did you incorporate?

Gathy　As you will notice when you sit down, the table is lower in height than a typical dining table. It is designed for guests to lounge comfortably as they dine on room service, which should make for a more relaxing experience. The chairs are also lower than typical dining chairs, and the seat of the sofa is deeply set, inviting you to lie down.

Gathy’s preference for layering can be seen in the staggered heights of the writing desk, couch, and round dining table. The low table allows for a more relaxing dining experience.

——What do you think of the new hotel brand Janu and of the significance of opening Janu Tokyo in Azabudai?

The Janu Lounge & Garden Terrace on the 5th floor. (Photo© Aman Group)

The 4,000 ㎡ wellness center in the hotel, one of the largest in Tokyo, includes a 25-meter swimming pool. (Photo© Aman Group)

Gathy　Janu is Aman’s younger sibling, but that does not mean that Janu is inferior. If Aman is proud, elegant, serene, and private, then Janu is more focused on energizing guests and encouraging them to interact.

The Italian restaurant Janu Mercato is situated on the ground floor of the hotel. (Photo© Aman Group)

I once worked on a hotel in Tokyo’s Otemachi area. Otemachi is more business-oriented, whereas Azabudai is more of a residential area, so it feels more dynamic here, and the community feels more engaged. If you live in a residence at Azabudai Hills, I can imagine that you might invite your friends to come to the area for lunch or dinner. That’s why food and beverage was an important consideration for Janu Tokyo, which has no less than eight exciting restaurants as well as a café, bar, and shop. It will be a vibrant place where guests can engage with the community.

——What do you prioritize when designing a hotel room?

Gathy　I think it is important to have a sense of unity overall rather than a single highlight, like a grand piece of furniture that stands out from the rest. It’s a matter of balance, in everything from the subdued colors to the height of the furniture to the control of light. It’s about putting together different materials to achieve a good balance between East and West. In the case of Janu, we custom-made all of the furniture, so we were able to strike a good balance in each room.

Jean-Michel Gathy
Gathy (b. 1955) is a Belgian architect and interior designer who founded the design studio Denniston in 1983. Since then, the Malaysia-based firm has been tapped for some of the world’s most exclusive hotel projects, such as Amanyara (Turks and Caicos), Amanwana (Indonesia), Cheval Blanc Randheli (Maldives), Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay (China), Four Seasons Tokyo, Four Seasons Bangkok, and several One&Only resorts. Gathy was also the principal designer for Aman New York, which opened in 2022.

#Azabudai Hills#Janu Tokyo