Node reads less like a hotel than a private art collection you happen to be able to sleep in. Architect Seiichiro Takeuchi's narrow, five-storey glass-and-concrete building in central Kyoto houses more than sixty works by artists including Gerhard Richter, Barry McGee and Nobuyoshi Araki, starting with a monochrome painting behind the front desk. The 25 rooms keep things deliberately spare, with diagonal metal ceilings, aged white oak floors and marble-and-iron furniture designed by Takeuchi himself. Downstairs, a farm-to-table bistro and a double-height bar built around a six-metre living wall pour organic wines beneath floor-to-ceiling windows, and the lobby regularly turns over to pop-up exhibitions and visiting gallerists.
