°C (Do-C) Gotanda

The second branch of a capsule hotel chain sits on a street corner in a busy nightlife district next to a railway station. The building had already been a capsule hotel under another operator, and its capsule units were kept. Given the neighbourhood, the hotel takes male guests only.

A first-time guest walking through this rough part of town may be relieved to spot the hotel on its corner, then uneasy again on stepping inside and wondering whether the work is finished. That doubt is intended. The building was stripped back to the bare minimum, and the new spaces were made from what remained.

Demolition left an odd interior of projections, recesses and dead ends, more like a cave than a building. The design team treated it as one, studying each leftover form to find what it could best hold. The old public bath in the basement became a sauna and shower room.

A tall, narrow void was turned into a sauna with a stepped floor, so guests choose their heat by choosing their level. A small enclosed pocket, probably a former toilet, was lined with shower pillars that send strong jets of water from the walls.

On the guest floors the capsules stayed as they were. Old wallpaper was peeled away and new walls were left unfinished, so the dated capsules now sit against raw surfaces, and that contrast does most of the work of refreshing them.