The Aman Group has built a reputation for creating the world’s most luxurious hotels, operating 35 properties in dramatic, unique and remote settings around the world. Founded by Vlad Doronin in 1988, the name Aman has become synonymous with ultra-high-end hospitality, as well as privacy and seclusion for the one per cent. So perhaps inevitably, the group has continued to expand its lifestyle offering (including a Kengo Kuma-designed furniture line that launched last year) and ramped up its forays into the residential property market.
Aman Residences Tokyo
The latest in the series of Aman Residences across the globe, and the first standalone location outside of the brand’s hotel and resorts, is the newly completed project in Tokyo’s tallest residential building: the Mori JP Tower by Pelli Clarke & Partners, which rises 1,066 feet above the city as part of the Azabudai Hills development. For the interiors, Aman Group collaborated with hospitality titans Yabu Pushelberg, behind some of the most impressive hotels in the world, to create a ‘quiet but strong’ extension of the brand’s aesthetic that blends Asian and European influences into a unique spatial experience.
‘We wanted to convey a clear, powerful personality that remains true to the Aman brand,’ studio co-founder Glenn Pushelberg tells Wallpaper*. ‘The project was 30 years in the making, and the level of integrity and detail that went into the residences is visible in a serene, effortless way.’
Aman Residences Tokyo comprises 91 fully serviced residences, each with a private entrance and dedicated elevator access. Soaring ceiling heights and copious square footage mean that the apartments feel incredibly luxurious and feature warm natural materials and muted neutral colours that enhance the sense of serenity, quiet and comfort for which Aman is renowned. Drawing on the themes of land, sea and sky – key elements in Japanese art and design – the studio was able to infuse Asian influences into the interiors while avoiding any clichés.
‘Conceptually, nature is at the root of the design intention,’ says Yabu Pushelberg’s other co-founder, George Yabu. ‘This is partly because nature allows you to draw from local and global contexts, so the experience can feel intimate to its locality while speaking more generally to an international experience.’
Extensive hotel-like amenities for residents are spread over the top 11 levels of the building, affording these spaces the best views across Tokyo’s urban sprawl. They include a lounge, bar, private dining room, tea room, library, reading room, media room and games room. Arguably the most impressive is the Aman Spa, featuring a 25m swimming pool, sauna, steam, and relaxation room, plus two treatment rooms and an expansive gym.
‘The wellness level, and the pool especially, is powerful,’ states Pushelberg, referring to the double-height space where columns of staggered glossy-blue bricks rise to a ceiling that swoops down dramatically in the centre over the water. In these spaces, the designers reveal, the aim was to evoke awe through the most simple gestures possible. ‘You are floating in the sky of Tokyo, with views of the bay, city, and surrounding you,’ Pushelberg describes. ‘Nothing is everything.’
Furthermore, an extensive public art collection, curated with the Mori Art Foundation and Hanabi art consultants, is displayed throughout the property and includes a sculpture titled The Rock by Sawada that is suspended high above a shallow pool in the soaring lobby.
Aman Residences Tokyo is among 13 branded residence locations that the group operates, while a further ten destinations featuring Aman Residences are set to open in the next five years in places such as Bangkok, Beverly Hills, Miami Beach and Niseko. The Aman Group also recently launched the Jean-Michel Gathy-designed Janu Tokyo, part of its new sibling brand, which joins the Aman Tokyo, which opened in 2014 as the brand’s first city property.
Aman Residences Tokyo are located at 1 Chome-3-2 Azabudai, aman.com
