Space comes at a premium in Tokyo. So today, let's take a look at our hotel room, including some of its dimensions. The smallest room in our hotel is 12 m2 (~129 ft2). But we sprung for the 20 m2 (~215 ft2) room given that we have two big ski/snowboard bags with us.

When you walk into our room, there is a foyer where you naturally remove your outside shoes and put on your inside shoes. There's also a continuous hook for hanging coats, which seems to be a common detail throughout Tokyo. This area measures 1060mm (3'5") wide by 2119mm (6'11") deep and has a clear height of 2170mm (7'1").

You then step up to the main room area, which has tatami flooring throughout. It's obvious that you shouldn't cross this threshold with your outside shoes on. Here the clear height compresses down to 2069mm (6'9") because of the raised floor and because of some HVAC above. I wonder if there are any services running under the floor. Presumably they made use of the space.

The toilet/shower room is 1886mm (6'2") wide by 1235mm (4'0") deep and has the same ceiling height as above. As expected, the toilet is very fancy, it has a heated seat, and it will do whatever it takes to ensure that you leave this compact room with a tidy bum. The control pad is also fairly intuitive to use.

The main living/sleeping area of the room is 2783mm (9'1") wide by 3351mm (10'11") deep, which is roughly the size of a Toronto apartment bedroom. This room also has a TV, desk area, and the bathroom sink. The ceiling height opens up to 2395mm (7'10") in this area.

It's worth highlighting that the desk height is just under 24" and the vanity countertop height is about 26". These are very low compared to Western standards and I can certainly feel it in my back.

In my view, it's this vertical dimension which represents the biggest design difference compared to what I'm accustomed to. Surfaces are low and the ceiling heights are compressed. Because otherwise, I've stayed in even smaller rooms in Paris and in other places. It's very comfortable and we would certainly stay here again.

We just checked into our hotel in Palma and one of the first things I noticed is that as soon as you open any of the windows/doors, the AC automatically turns off. A message on the thermostat then alerts you that it will come back on once you close the windows. I haven't yet figured out how this particular hotel room is sensing that things are open, but it's relatively easy to do this at home through smart thermostats and sensors like these. I make a real concerted effort to do this manually, and so it's great to see it automated in a hotel room, where people are naturally going to care less about wastage. Europe is so far ahead of North America when it comes to energy efficiency.

Vipp is a 3rd generation family-owned Danish company that makes everything from kitchens and lighting to prefab homes. But it all started with a pedal-controlled waste bin that Holger Nielsen – a metalworker – crafted for his wife Marie’s salon in 1939.

I love their design philosophy. It is centered around “fewer but better products” and around lasting function over ephemeral trends.

But equally interesting is what they are doing with their Vipp Hotels. Instead of large hotels, they offer individual rooms in unique locations, such as this 55 square meter design object in the Swedish wilderness (pictured above).

The rooms they have crafted are, not surprisingly, stunning. And that’s because they are deliberately designed as a tool to showcase their kitchens, bathrooms, bins, and other products. 

Here is a quote from their CEO taken from a recent Surface article:

“Traditional retail seems to be losing its power, but what is not losing power is our desire to see or do something interesting. I see our hotels as the experience economy coming alive,” says Kasper Egelund, CEO of Denmark-based Vipp.

Clever.

Image: Vipp

Space comes at a premium in Tokyo. So today, let's take a look at our hotel room, including some of its dimensions. The smallest room in our hotel is 12 m2 (~129 ft2). But we sprung for the 20 m2 (~215 ft2) room given that we have two big ski/snowboard bags with us.

When you walk into our room, there is a foyer where you naturally remove your outside shoes and put on your inside shoes. There's also a continuous hook for hanging coats, which seems to be a common detail throughout Tokyo. This area measures 1060mm (3'5") wide by 2119mm (6'11") deep and has a clear height of 2170mm (7'1").

You then step up to the main room area, which has tatami flooring throughout. It's obvious that you shouldn't cross this threshold with your outside shoes on. Here the clear height compresses down to 2069mm (6'9") because of the raised floor and because of some HVAC above. I wonder if there are any services running under the floor. Presumably they made use of the space.

The toilet/shower room is 1886mm (6'2") wide by 1235mm (4'0") deep and has the same ceiling height as above. As expected, the toilet is very fancy, it has a heated seat, and it will do whatever it takes to ensure that you leave this compact room with a tidy bum. The control pad is also fairly intuitive to use.

The main living/sleeping area of the room is 2783mm (9'1") wide by 3351mm (10'11") deep, which is roughly the size of a Toronto apartment bedroom. This room also has a TV, desk area, and the bathroom sink. The ceiling height opens up to 2395mm (7'10") in this area.

It's worth highlighting that the desk height is just under 24" and the vanity countertop height is about 26". These are very low compared to Western standards and I can certainly feel it in my back.

In my view, it's this vertical dimension which represents the biggest design difference compared to what I'm accustomed to. Surfaces are low and the ceiling heights are compressed. Because otherwise, I've stayed in even smaller rooms in Paris and in other places. It's very comfortable and we would certainly stay here again.

We just checked into our hotel in Palma and one of the first things I noticed is that as soon as you open any of the windows/doors, the AC automatically turns off. A message on the thermostat then alerts you that it will come back on once you close the windows. I haven't yet figured out how this particular hotel room is sensing that things are open, but it's relatively easy to do this at home through smart thermostats and sensors like these. I make a real concerted effort to do this manually, and so it's great to see it automated in a hotel room, where people are naturally going to care less about wastage. Europe is so far ahead of North America when it comes to energy efficiency.

Vipp is a 3rd generation family-owned Danish company that makes everything from kitchens and lighting to prefab homes. But it all started with a pedal-controlled waste bin that Holger Nielsen – a metalworker – crafted for his wife Marie’s salon in 1939.

I love their design philosophy. It is centered around “fewer but better products” and around lasting function over ephemeral trends.

But equally interesting is what they are doing with their Vipp Hotels. Instead of large hotels, they offer individual rooms in unique locations, such as this 55 square meter design object in the Swedish wilderness (pictured above).

The rooms they have crafted are, not surprisingly, stunning. And that’s because they are deliberately designed as a tool to showcase their kitchens, bathrooms, bins, and other products. 

Here is a quote from their CEO taken from a recent Surface article:

“Traditional retail seems to be losing its power, but what is not losing power is our desire to see or do something interesting. I see our hotels as the experience economy coming alive,” says Kasper Egelund, CEO of Denmark-based Vipp.

Clever.

Image: Vipp