While a trio of villas is still under construction on the island of Sugishima—designed by Domus 2025 Guest Editor Bjarke Ingels—the Japanese platform has unveiled a new initiative set to take shape in 2027. The project will temporarily transform a one-hectare site in Tokyo’s Yurakucho district into an immersive environment inspired by California’s Napa Valley: the Japa Valley Tokyo.

At the centre of this homage to the so-called "American Tuscany"—reimagined through a distinctly Japanese lens—are creative advisors, musicians and designers Nigo and Pharrell Williams, recently appointed as Creative Advisors to Not A Hotel and involved as investors. Their participation reflects a broader strategy pursued by the brand: an ongoing hybridisation of design, fashion and architecture. Nigo and Pharrell have long moved across these disciplines; their partnership began in the early 2000s and has since generated a number of pioneering, cross-industry projects, culminating most recently in their collaboration for Louis Vuitton. By inviting figures from the visual and musical culture to take part in the brand’s evolution, Not A Hotel aims to establish a new curatorial direction, one that appeals to a wider audience while enriching its innovative model of shared residential ownership.

Japa Valley Tokyo, however, will not be a home in the traditional sense. Instead, it will manifest as a piece of ephemeral architecture, composed of wooden pavilions, sake tastings, immersive retail and large-scale artistic interventions. The centrepiece of the site will be a monumental sculpture by KAWS, the american artis Brian Donnelly who previously collaborated with Not A Hotel on The Nigo House in 2023. That project, perched above Sagami Bay, was envisioned by Nigo as a personal retreat, where vintage furniture, contemporary art and pop-infused details like Human Made’s inflatable duck and a rooftop Companion sculpture came together in a distinctive stylistic synthesis.