BIG designs trio of villas nestled into remote Japanese island
Architecture studio BIG has released images of Not A Hotel Setouchi, a trio of holiday villas it has designed for Sagishima island in Japan.
Organised around courtyards and marked by sweeping tiled roofs, the three rounded structures are being created in collaboration with hospitality brand Not A Hotel.
BIG has visualised each structure nestled into the surrounding woodland, connected to a network of roads that weave through the landscape.
According to BIG's founder Bjarke Ingels, Not A Hotel Setouchi will draw on both Danish and Japanese architecture.
"Traditional Danish modern architecture is, in fact, very informed by traditional Japanese architecture," said Ingels.
"There's been a very fruitful conversation going between Danish and Japanese culture and, of course, with Not a Hotel on Sagishima island, we are very excited to continue this conversation and into the future."
Details about the project are set to be revealed later this year, but the visuals suggest each villa will feature large roof overhangs that shade the interior spaces.
The interiors will be fronted by expansive glass facades and patios that look out towards Seto Inland and the surrounding greenery on Sagishima, which is otherwise known as Sagi Island.
"It almost looks like a traditional Japanese landscape painting in a fully realised form," said Ingels.
Inside, the Not A Hotel Setouchi rooms are shown with textured, monolithic walls, teamed with wooden ceilings and paved flooring.
Among the rooms revealed in the images are a kitchen and dining area, alongside sunken seating areas from which infinity pools will extend.
The images also reveal scenic bedrooms, which look out to the ocean and nearby mountains.
The villas will be complete with a cosy sauna and cobbled courtyards that offer shared seating space organised around a fire pit.
Not A Hotel has also recently collaborated with Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto to design a disc-shaped villa with a swooping green roof on Ishigaki island.
The project is among those to have featured on Dezeen's list of 12 interesting projects to complete in 2024.
Founded by Ingels in 2005, BIG is an international architecture studio that has offices in Copenhagen, New York, London and Barcelona, as well as Shenzhen, Zurich, Los Angeles and Oslo.
Other recent projects by BIG include a pair of spiky high-rise buildings nearing completion in Copenhagen and a proposal for stepped housing overlooking Aegean Sea.
The visuals is courtesy of BIG and Not A Hotel.