First look
Park Hyatt is going to Sapporo, the largest city on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, with a 157-room hotel occupying floors 27 to 35 of a tower designed by Kengo Kuma. Hyatt’s newsroom dated the opening to 2029 in an August 2024 announcement, correcting earlier vaguer ‘later this decade’ language, so this is a long lead time and very much in the anticipation column.
Kengo Kuma is the headline here. His work — timber, layered screens, a softer relationship between building and surroundings — is a strong fit for Park Hyatt’s understated register, and a high-floor city hotel gives him a clear canvas. Hokkaido is better known for its ski resorts than its urban hotels, so a serious Park Hyatt in Sapporo itself is a notable addition. With 2029 still years out, what we will be watching for is whether the timeline holds and how the design actually translates from renderings.
