Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1530891
P ritzker Architecture Prize winner Shigeru Ban's designs for the Simose villas, restaurant, and associated art museum in Hiroshima, Japan, are works of art unto themselves. Ten remarkably designed villas nestle among the trees and along the Seto Inland Sea, including the Paper House, a structure made from Ban's signature paper tubes. The museum houses a collection of 500 works and is composed of eight movable galleries that appear to float on water. The destination is listed on Prix Versailles 2024: The World's Most Beautiful Museums by UNESCO. artsimose.jp/en. Rebecca Sherman SIMOSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN SKRYTE BANE BENESSE HOUSE, NAOSHIMA, JAPAN A rtist McKay Otto, just back from global travels, put Benesse House on our map. Not one but four different hotel properties, this pilgrimage-worthy destination is enveloped by the ever-expanding Benesse Art Site, a museum that's a monument to Japan's greatest architect, Tadao Ando. More than luxe lodging, Benesse House offers an opportunity to lay your head down surrounded by a sculpture park — Yayoi Kusama, Shinro Ohtake, Bruce Nauman, Walter De Maria, Beatriz Milhazes, and other international art stars — and within works of architecture by Pritzker Prize-winner Tadao Ando. A third element in the equation is provided by nature and the site itself. The islands of Setouchi, bordering the Seto Inland Sea in Western Japan, become the dramatic and ultimate canvas. Stay tuned: Ando's 10th Benesse architectural project, Naoshima New Museum of Art, opens this spring. benesseartsite.jp/en/stay. Catherine D. Anspon HIROYUKI HIRAI THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HOTELS IN THE WORLD By Catherine D. Anspon, Billy Fong, Rebecca Sherman, Cailtin Hsu, Jenna Baer Yayoi Kusama's Pumpkin, 2022 ©YAYOI KUSAMA, PHOTO TADASU YAMAMOTO Bruce Nauman's One Hundred Live and Die, 1984