Not a Hotel to open Not a Museum at Imperial Hotel Plaza Tokyo ahead of demolition

Nota, the company behind hotelier Not a Hotel, is set to create its first cultural space with the opening of Not a Museum, which will be designed together with Tokyo creative collective SKWAT.

The mixed-use space will be located in the Imperial Hotel Plaza Tokyo, a 2,000-square-metre commercial centre that is set to be torn down due to the reconstruction of the Imperial Hotel Tokyo tower.

Not a Museum to function as "experimental platform"

Nota will take over spaces on the first floor and up to the fourth floor over four years – from the summer of 2027 to 2031 – ahead of the building's demolition, which has been delayed due to an increase in construction costs.

Its Not a City subsidiary will design Not a Museum together with SKWAT, a cultural collective in Tokyo that runs the SKWAT Kameari Art Centre and is led by founder Keisuke Nakamura of the design firm Daikei Mills.

Together, Not a City and SKWAT will be in charge of everything from the planning to the management of the space over the four years that it will be open.

"It will serve as an experimental platform for the future, where cutting-edge culture across art, music, books, cinema, fashion, and more comes together, is tested, and continues to evolve," Not a City and SKWAT said.

Not a City also behind Japa Valley Tokyo

Not a City intends to take advantage of unused spaces in Tokyo, where buildings are often demolished – rather than adapted and reused – to make way for new developments.

The company is also behind Japa Valley Tokyo, a new commercial district set to open in 2027 in the yet-to-be-built Yurakucho Park, an area developed with Mitsubishi Estate on a site left empty after the demolition of two 1960s buildings.

The district will be designed by producer Pharrell Williams and fashion designer Nigo, who joined Nota as creative advisors last year.

SKWAT has previously hosted exhibitions by designer Kwangho Lee as well as architects Herzog & de Meuron.

The image is courtesy of Nota.

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