Issues

Fresh start Kamakura

MODEL: Kou.
GROOMING: Naomi Tsuruta.
LOCAL PRODUCER: Shinn Kobayashi.

Wheel-good factor

Visiting a petrol station is rarely a fulfilling experience. This is why entrepreneur Ramdane Touhami (who recently sold his perfume brand Officine Universelle Buly 1803 to LVMH) saw space to improve things when he found a rundown service station on Paris’s Boulevard des Invalides. It’s not just that it serves great coffee. There’s humour and oddity aplenty here, from the jovial staff to the pump made by cutlery brand Christofle.

“It’s a service station offering fuel for cars and humans,” says Touhami with a grin. “Unleaded petrol, diesel, sweets and curiosities.” The station, not far from Touhami’s home in the 7th arrondissement, didn’t look like much when it went up for sale, with its inventory confined to car air fresheners and tyre-pressure gauges.

The challenge of turning it into a place in which people were happy to linger was, above all, amusing to Touhami. He’s keenly aware of the environmental toll of refuelling but perhaps also of the need for some pragmatism when we talk about such things. Scrawled on the diesel pump in French – with tongue firmly in cheek – are the words “Not terrible for the planet”; the unleaded fuel pump reads, “Not awesome at all”.

The idea was to offer something younger and fresher than the conservative bars nearby and without the weight of expectation about what a Parisian institution should look like. It does no harm that the ironic and pop culture-laden branding seems made for social-media posts.

As well as a range of automotive tools that drivers might actually need, there is a selection of 30 Japanese and international soft drinks (lemon drop sounds rather nice, olive less so) plus Super Mario chewing gum, raspberry Kit Kats and a newsstand very well stocked with national and Parisian titles. Beyond this is stationery, from pens to notepads deriding the use of taxis, and ironic keyrings, T-shirts, funky car mats and a few cycling accessories.

The menu is less about novelty than great dishes made with regional ingredients by the Japanese head chef. The kitchen turns out sweet or savoury crêpes and what might be Paris’s best hotdogs, with a choice of 10 house-concocted sauces.

The real art here has been Touhami’s ability to turn an ageing eyesore into a bustling breakfast and lunch (and petrol) spot between 07.00 and 19.00. The at times over-the-top branding won’t be to everyone’s taste but the crêpes and coffee probably will be.
17 Boulevard des Invalides, 75007 Paris

Small wonder

The Shinmonzen, a new nine-suite hotel designed by Tadao Ando, sits on a quiet but characterful street peppered with antique shops in a corner of Kyoto’s Gion area. It’s an urban oasis that is close to all the action.

“The idea was to make it like a machiya townhouse,” says general manager Katrina Uy of the four-storey new build with an understated sumi-kuro charcoal-black wooden exterior. It’s a gentle addition to the neighbourhood; there is not a single sign outside except for a noren curtain-like fabric banner with the letter “S” on it. “We wanted to do it in Kyoto style: a bit exclusive, a bit secret,” says Uy.

Staff welcome guests as they arrive on the platform at Kyoto station. It was ryokan-loving owner Paddy McKillen’s long-time dream to open a small hotel here. The Irish hotelier, who is co-owner of the Maybourne Hotel Group, which includes Claridge’s and The Connaught in London, is an art collector and has been a regular visitor to the area for about 20 years. When he is in Kyoto, he always stays at least one night in a traditional ryokan. “Over the years, he saw the number of shops on this street decline,” says Uy. “He wanted to represent the street so he named the hotel after it.”

McKillen’s previous projects offer some clues about the plan for The Shinmonzen. He owns the art-filled Villa la Coste in the Château la Coste winery in Provence. Though he could have put more rooms in, McKillen opted for just 28. This isn’t a cookie-cutter kind of service.

“Keeping it compact allows us to provide tailor-made hospitality to every guest,” says Uy of the round-the-clock butler service. “In a big hotel, you would have to call the reception, concierge or housekeeping. Here, one person will take care of you, with everything from steaming clothes to booking restaurants.” For those who are jet-lagged, breakfast is served 24 hours a day in the guest rooms, lounge or restaurant. Guests can ask for a walking tour personally designed to suit their tastes, a tea ceremony session and zazen meditation class at Zen temples Kennin-ji and Kodai-ji, and much more.

Every guest room has a view of the Shirakawa river, a picturesque stream flowing gently by the hotel, with a Japanese maple tree hanging over the water. “Mr Ando described the river as magical,” says Uy. “It’s shallow, slow and serene.” The shakkei (“borrowed”) scenery, which incorporates charmingly aged wooden buildings across the narrow river and mountains in the far distance, helps to set an idyllic tone.

Designed by Ando with French designer Rémi Tessier, the interior uses natural materials, from washi paper to wood (mainly oak) and marble. “Everything in the rooms is a play of light,” says Uy. The thin railing on the terrace slices sunlight into pillars of light, which enter the room softly through the shoji paper screens. In the Kinu suite, which features tatami mats and futon mattresses, the shoji behind a marble sink produces a playful contrast.

Most furniture is custom-made for the hotel, including chairs, sofas and desks designed by Toan Nguyen and Darren Chew, and bespoke coffee tables and bedheads by UK furniture-maker Longpré. The hinoki baths and carpets are handmade in Kyoto, as are the teacups from potters and antique shops around the city. McKillen’s art collection comes in handy too; pieces by the likes of Damien Hirst, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Makoto Ofune punctuate the white walls of the corridors and lounge.

The restaurant will treat guests with menus created by French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. They can expect regional ingredients, in particular from the Ohara farming area in the north of the city. There is a pâtisserie shopfront that connects the hotel with the neighbourhood and doubles as a soft façade to create privacy for the restaurant and bar at the back. The Shinmonzen’s soft opening was in December, ahead of the grand opening set for April. Our advice? Book ahead. Those nine suites will fill up fast.
theshinmonzen.com

Out of the past

Arriving at this address has always been a bit of an event for madrileños. The well-heeled tenants who once called the Palacio de Anglada home were renowned for hosting lavish balls throughout the 19th century. The residence later became one of the city’s most illustrious hotels. Now, with a 15-month refurbishment, the Rosewood Hotel Group has restored its air of historic opulence, while doing away with its old-hat elitism and airtight exclusivity. It has flung open the freshly polished doors with flair. Welcome to Rosewood Villa Magna.

“We really wanted to create a feeling of a homely welcome,” says communications manager Laura Del Pozo, who has the challenge of preserving the hotel’s links to the past while spreading word of its much anticipated and scrutinised second coming. “The entrance lobby was once an open-plan space that was so steeped in formality that it conveyed a sense of coldness,” she says, while whisking Monocle through a series of intersecting sitting rooms, all furnished with soft-textured sofas. There are two restaurants, a less formal pâtisserie and a smarter drawing-room bar.

With seven fireplaces throughout the hotel and several outdoor spaces, there’s no shortage of spots in which to settle. A quick survey reveals a cross-section of Madrid society, from those here on business to families and friends meeting for a drink. “We have really tried to move away from the perception that this is a stuffy hotel,” says Del Pozo.

In its look and feel, the hotel leans into its affluent ancestry but it does so with imagination. Behind the front desk is a tapestry by Jacky Puzey, which references Spanish motifs and icons, while also taking inspiration from tailoring giants such as Balenciaga and Oteyza. It sets the tone for the almost tongue-in-cheek portraits on the walls. In curating them, UK firm Artlink dipped into the old palace’s historical guest list of larger-than-life characters for subjects. A portrait by Salustiano García Cruz of one of Francisco Goya’s favourite grandsons is hung prominently in the presidential suite.

Australian design firm BAR Studio, which recently opened an office in the Spanish capital, has cultivated a feeling of intimacy in the shared spaces, as well as in the hotel’s 154 guest rooms. Spain often displays a degree of diffidence when celebrating the best of what it has to offer. Here an outsider’s design sensibilities have struck a balance between reverence and playfulness. “That’s influenced by our relaxed, perhaps Australian attitude,” says BAR Studio co-founder Stewart Robertson. “We create spaces that have a sense of ease. We understand hotels as a base to both explore and retreat.”

Amós restaurant offers a taste of Spain’s northern region of Cantabria. Meanwhile, the liveliness of the open-plan kitchen restaurant Las Brasas de Castellana is complemented by the tranquillity of the hotel’s gardens by landscape architect Gregorio Marañón.

“The same staff have stayed on,” says Del Pozo. “That means guests are still greeted by familiar faces and bonds of friendship remain unbroken.”

The boldest break from the past is visible in the building’s façade, which was masterfully designed by Spanish architect Ramón de Arana. A corrugated veneer of repurposed brass cubes and aluminium grooves, it creates a sensation of movement, volume and contrast through the interplay between light and shadow. It’s a fitting motif for a city whose energy has always been generated by a sort of revolving door separating the old and the new, and whose most exciting offerings, such as Rosewood Villa Magna, find a comfortable niche between the two.
rosewoodhotels.com

Creative thinking

A brutalist building with black-framed, factory-style windows, the Ace Hotel group’s newest outpost slots seamlessly into downtown Brooklyn. At its entrance is an alcove adorned with a ceramic mural and a dangling light fixture inspired by those of the Okura Tokyo hotel. The lobby is all warm lighting, plywood panels and sculptural beams, while in the lounge, guests sit chatting in leather seats near a retro bar. Meanwhile, troops of workers tap away on their laptops on a long desk in a neighbouring room.

Ace Hotel had long planned to expand into Brooklyn. “We’ve seen the borough renew itself several times since we started working on Ace Brooklyn,” says Brad Wilson, the brand’s president. “That’s part of what made it so attractive. Its conversation is constantly evolving.”

While most chains would have chosen the ever-hip Williamsburg, Ace decided to base the hotel on the edge of suburban Boerum Hill. “It’s a conduit to almost everywhere in the city,” says Wilson. Indeed, it’s close to some of the borough’s buzziest neighbourhoods, such as Fort Greene and Cobble Hill, while Manhattan is a short train ride away.

While you’ll find quintessential Ace Hotel elements, such as a lobby in which you’ll want to linger, the new property has a distinct feel from its sister hotel in Manhattan. “There’s a nature-versusnurture quality in their characters,” says Wilson. “But every Ace has the same spiritual DNA.” Founded in 1999 by a group of friends in Seattle who wanted to create design-centric yet affordable accommodation for travellers, Ace Hotels have since opened in locations ranging from Seattle to Kyoto. As the brand has grown, so has its cult following.

For the exteriors and interiors, Ace tapped New York-based practice Roman and Williams, which incorporated design elements influenced by the area’s shipyards. There’s also a photo booth, as well as an indoor garden with a glass roof. The 287 Le Corbusier-inspired guest rooms are simple and compact; think plywood beds, muscular rocking chairs and earthy, green flooring. In some rooms, floor-to-ceiling windows look out towards Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. The rooms are adorned with original textile works curated by artist Niki Tsukamoto. “The space is designed with the industrious energy of the neighbourhood in mind,” says Wilson.

The downstairs restaurant, As You Are, serves a selection of hearty plates, such as lamb ribs with garlic yoghurt. Discerning drinkers can sip on locally inspired cocktails, including the Bond Street – whiskey, peach, ginger and lemon. Rouse yourself in the morning with an espresso made using beans from roasters Sey Coffee and enjoy pastries baked by in-house chef Danny Alvarez at one of the cement picnic tables. From here, you’ll truly feel Brooklyn as the subway rumbles beneath your feet.
acehotel.com

Overnight successes

Azores Wine Company
Azores

Wine-maker António Maçanita’s Azores Wine Company seeks to revive the archipelago’s indigenous grape varieties. Undaunted by the challenging soils, high altitude and wild Atlantic wind, Maçanita started work on the Pico vineyard in 2010 with colleague Filipe Rocha. The winery, built in 2020 by Sami Arquitectos and UK studio DRDH, is seamlessly integrated into the volcanic landscape. Six intimate apartments were added last year, with kitchens full of regional delicacies and subdued interiors. The Japanese yakisugi charred-wood technique was used for much of the carpentry and vintage furniture adds a homely touch. The restaurant serves tasting menus with its wine pairings; it’s the best spot from which to savour the vineyard’s yield and chef José Diogo Costa’s use of Azorean ingredients.
azoreswinecompany.com

The Wood Hotel
Skellefteå

Once known for its gold mines, the Swedish city of Skellefteå is now better recognised for its green endeavours, from its biogas-powered buses to its wooden buildings. Last October, The Wood Hotel opened in a 20-storey timber tower attached to the Sara Kulturhus. As well as the 205-key accommodation, guests can access the theatre, museum, gallery, library and conference centre, designed for sustainability by Stockholm-based White Arkitekter. The wide windows are a fitting frame from which to spot the midnight sun or Northern Lights. And there’s plenty to explore inside the hotel: the Per Öberg-designed Vana spa for sauna treatments, Asian restaurant Miss Voon for something more formal and Manden for international fare to enjoy on the terrace (weather permitting).
elite.se

Bulgari Hotel
Paris

Designed by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, Bulgari’s new hotel on Paris’s Avenue George V offers 76 guest rooms, while its suites are full of Dedar fabrics, cashmere blankets and art by Gio Ponti. There’s also a spa and a pool. At Il Ristorante, chef Niko Romito has 58 covers indoors and 40 more in the garden. He dedicated a year of research to perfecting the crumb on his veal Milanese; it was worth it. The hotel’s sprawling penthouse, with terraces and a garden, occupies the top two floors, offering panoramic views of the city.
bulgarihotels.com

Inventory: Retail
Daily bread
Portugal

A quick lunch from a café needn’t mean compromising on taste or green credentials – as the smart revamp of Lisbon’s A Padaria Portuguesa proves.

The Portuguese have always loved bread and pastries. But when the café and bakery chain A Padaria Portuguesa opened its first site in Lisbon in 2010, it offered something that the family-run establishments dominating the market at the time couldn’t: consistency. Its fresh salad, sandwiches and set menus quickly became staples in lisboetas‘ daily life, giving rise to 59 outposts in and around the capital, employing more than 1,000 staff.

Now the chain is receiving a timely makeover, according to co-founder and CEO Nuno Carvalho. “There has been immense innovation in Lisbon’s restaurant scene, brought about by a new generation of consumers, as well as foreigners setting up shop here,” he says, noting customers’ growing appetite for healthier food and more environmentally conscious eating options.

“Health and overconsumption are not ideas reserved for activists and romantics,” says Carvalho. “They affect us all in our everyday life.” He started to address this by tackling the essentials. A Padaria Portuguesa connected closely with coffee plantations and concocted a new organic blend; it also abandoned industrially made flour in favour of smaller producers that use traditional milling techniques. The result? “There was a palpable upgrade to the bread’s taste,” says Carvalho.

To limit waste, the chain exchanges tonnes of used coffee grounds for mushrooms in a partnership with Lisbon-based urban farm Nãm, which grows fungi with them. “We are also exploring ways to turn our heaps of orange peels into essential oils and crystalised fruits for cakes,” says Carvalho, who is also giving the brand a redesign.

“The shops were too commercial before,” he says. “We wanted spaces that reflect the high-quality Portuguese products we are serving.” Architect João Pombeiro and Lisbon-based studio XXXI have brightened up the interiors with off-white and earthy tones, working with Portuguese suppliers for terracotta hanging lamps, tiles and cushions, and substituting wooden tabletops with Estremoz marble. “The essence of the business is serving cheap, fast lunches and snacks,” says Carvalho. “That’s still the same but we have evolved.”
apadariaportuguesa.pt

Images: Sven Burman, Francisco Nogueira

Up to the plate

To anyone in the Japanese hospitality business, Nikko is a familiar name. The company has been making pristine bone-china tableware in Ishikawa since 1908. Dine at any number of hotels and restaurants in Tokyo and you’re likely to be eating from a Nikko plate. But what the company lacked was a place to introduce the brand to everyone else. “We wanted somewhere to show the quality of what we make, maybe even to young chefs who might be starting their own restaurants,” says managing director Naoki Mitani, whose family have run the Nikko business for decades.

Mitani got in touch with Tokyo company Transit General Office, a Nikko client, which runs restaurants and cafés all over Japan. Together they found a location, a former international school, in Tomigaya (mere moments from Monocle’s Tokyo bureau) and assembled a top team: Atsushi Osada of Milestone for the interior and Naomi Hirabayashi for the branding and graphics. The reboot project was underway.

Hirabayashi went to visit the Nikko factory in Hakusan in Ishikawa. Nikko makes more than 2,000 products but Hirabayashi selected a core collection of 21 pieces to form what has been named the Remastered series. She revived the old double-phoenix logo and spelled out the history on the base of each dish. Nikko’s bone china is whiter than most and strong enough to go in the dishwasher and microwave.

Unlike many of its international peers, Nikko has never outsourced production to cheaper locations. “There were plans at one point,” says Mitani. “But we missed the boat and then decided to keep production in Japan.” Which now turns out to be a strong selling point. There are 650 people working for Nikko, 150 of them on the porcelain. “We can do every part of the process in-house, from the raw ingredients to the finished products, which is unusual these days,” says Mitani. Every piece is checked by hand at the end too.

The new shop, Lost and Found, is divided in two and separated by a brick arch, an allusion to an old tunnel kiln. One half is dedicated to Nikko tableware and the other half sells homeware chosen by Kazuto Kobayashi, who also runs his own shop, Roundabout. “The idea was to showcase great products that have been overlooked,” says Mitani. “The name Lost and Found is meant to be ironic as our products have been overlooked and are now being rediscovered too.”

The Nikko selection includes plenty of classic white pieces and a traditional willow-patterned tea set, which has been in production for more than 100 years and was used to serve The Beatles when they came to Japan in the 1960s. The product line-up is a tight selection of goods from Japan and overseas, from tea towels and wine glasses to scrubbing brushes and bins. There’s a showroom and kitchen downstairs for trade buyers.

Some customers will be meeting the brand for the first time in the new shop. The most popular product so far is the Nagi range of matte tableware but Mitani is eager to introduce people to Nikko’s signature plain white dishes. “You can buy a cheap white plate for ¥100 [€1] but what we do at Nikko is very high quality,” he says. “This shop allows us to show customers the difference.”
lost-found-store.jp

Inventory: F&B
Dining out
Global

Hungry? Or looking to awaken your palate? We travel from a neighbourhood café in Milan to a bijou restaurant in Reykjavík, and offer a tasty recipe too.

Ego
Helsinki

Ego is the latest venture by the celebrated Finnish chef Pekka Terävä in Helsinki. Terävä is perhaps best known for the Michelin-starred restaurant Olo, which opened in 2006, and for his achievements in various international culinary competitions such as Bocuse d’Or. Ego, however, is rather understated and represents Terävä’s take on a friendly neighbourhood restaurant.

“Our focus is on classic continental dishes served in a cosy and easy-going bistro, where everyone feels welcome and where food and drinks are reasonably priced,” says Terävä. The menu changes seasonally and features classics such as veal schnitzel with wild garlic butter and braised turbot with brussels sprouts in a beurre blanc sauce.

Terävä’s fine-dining background is apparent both in Ego’s excellent wine list and cellar as well as in the ingredients and suppliers that it calls on to provide them. “Over the years, we have learned to know the best farmers and fishermen in the country, who now supply all of my restaurants,” he says.
olo-collection.fi

Orders of merit

Markthalle Pfefferberg
Berlin

Unlike Markthalle Neun, this food stop isn’t located in one of Berlin’s airy, purpose-built 19th-century halls. Instead, Markthalle Pfefferberg is squeezed into a street-level space in a former brewery. Yet since opening last spring, word of this food court has quickly spread around the city.

Inside, Heribert Willmerdinger, one of Pfefferberg’s two owners, is sitting at a table in the wood-panelled dining area as 1970s rock music from the bar mixes with reggaetón from the taquería. To his left is natural wine shop Valla Vino; to his right, a barber gets to work.

What the area needed, according to Willmerdinger and his partner, Michael Heiden, was a place like White Trash, the legendary burger bar and music venue that closed in 2016. The DIY feel of Markthalle Pfefferberg’s interior is a nod towards that old rockabilly hangout; part of a streetwear shop opposite the bar doubles as a DJ booth.

When Markthalle Pfefferberg opened in June, butcher Maurice Wengatz, who makes his own sausages on-site, was the only tenant. A Mexican grocery by cookbook author Ivette Pérez followed, stocking fresh tortillas and salsas. Today there’s a cheese counter by Fritz Blomeyer, pizza, cakes and Vietnamese food. And then there’s Taquería El Oso, arguably the Markthalle’s crown jewel, since it grew out of Berlin’s best taco truck, Sabor a Mí.
Schönhauser Allee 176

Recipe
Chicken karaage

Recipe writer Aya Nishimura rustles up a refined Japanese take on crispy twice-fried chicken. Serve it with lemon wedges and a cold beer.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients
600g chicken thighs with skin on and bones removed, cubed into 4cm pieces
¾ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp white pepper powder
2 cloves of garlic, finely grated
20g ginger, finely grated with the juice squeezed out
1½ tbsps water
1 tbsp soy sauce
100g cornflour
350ml sunflower oil

Method

1.
Put chicken pieces in a bowl. Add salt, pepper, garlic and ginger juice. Mix well. Add the water and soy sauce, mix again and let it marinate for 30 minutes.

2.
Once chicken is marinated, heat the oil in a medium-sized pot. While it’s heating up, coat chicken with 80g of the cornflour, in a tray.

3.
The oil temperature needs to be 160C for the first frying. You can test it with a piece of bread: if it browns in 30 seconds, the oil is ready.

4.
Just before you fry, add the remaining 20g cornflour to the tray and coat chicken again for an extra crunch.

5.
Drop 4 or 5 pieces of chicken into the oil and cook for 90 seconds, Turn and cook for another 90 seconds. Remove chicken from oil and rest on a wire rack. Cook in batches.

6.
Once all of the chicken has been fried once, turn heat up to 180C. If bread browns in 15 seconds, the oil is ready.

7.
Fry chicken a second time, for 1 minute on each side, in batches. Remove from the oil and place on wire rack. Serve warm.

ayanishimura.com

Sem Restaurant
Lisbon

Opened last summer in Lisbon’s Alfama neighbourhood by chefs Lara Espírito Santo, a Rio native, and New Zealander George McLeod, Sem promotes ethical food production and a menu that changes daily to stress fresh ingredients. Dishes have included pork neck, elderflower and berries, along with corvina, a line-caught fish from Portuguese waters, served raw or grilled. At the bar, à la carte options include ceviche and a wine selection from natural vintners.
restaurantsem.com

Goto
Milan

The neighbourhood Italian café gets a makeover at Goto in Porta Venezia. In a snug interior complete with a Murano glass chandelier, you can enjoy an on-point espresso (made with single-origin Cuban coffee from roaster Torrefazione Giamaica) or peruse the fine and fulsome menu that has you covered from breakfast to aperitivo.

Co-founder and Veneto native Giovanni Fiorin, who previously launched pizzeria and cocktail bar Dry Milano, has refreshed the line-up with tasty brioche and organic wine from niche vintners, made with indigenous varietals. The updated menu includes a toasted sandwich of smoked ham and Asiago cheese, and the signature pane olio e pomodoro, consisting of bread, extra-virgin olive oil and tomatoes.

“In the Venetian dialect, ‘goto‘ is an expression used when people say ‘let’s go’ to the bar for a drink or coffee,” says Fiorin. “I wanted to transmit the idea of something informal and everyday but with a touch of class.”
thisisgoto.it

Saga
New York

In all of the hundreds of restaurants in New York, there are few that offer superb food and brilliant views. Which is what makes the opening of Saga all the more compelling. Inside an art deco building in the financial district, guests are whisked from the red marble lobby up to the 63rd-floor space that’s filled with green marble tables, Noguchi-style pendants, hand-lacquered chairs and artworks by Basquiat, all with a backdrop of Manhattan and the Hudson River. The menu is a set dinner created by chef and co-founder James Kent, who takes diners on a New York-slash-French food journey via plates of fluke, Maine lobster with caviar and brown-butter crumble. The only disappointing part of the experience is taking the lift back down again.
saga-nyc.com

Tom’s Sandwich
Hiroshima

Once a beacon in Tokyo’s Daikanyama, this favourite has found a new home in Onomichi, Hiroshima. Owners Tomoki and Yuriko Sato opened their restaurant in the capital in 1973, where their US-style sandwiches and warm hospitality won a loyal following. But in April 2019, says Tomoki, “We decided it was time to close. I’m 80 now.”

When this happened, one of the regulars invited the couple to Onomichi and they fell in love with the place. Six months later they moved to the far-flung city with their two daughters and a granddaughter, who help to run the relocated family business. “Life is gentle here, with fresh air and a stunning ocean,” says Tomoki, who came out of retirement. “I needed to do something.” In March 2021, Tom’s Sandwich was born anew. “We have many great customers from the area and people from Tokyo visit us too,” says the sprightly octogenarian. We want to energise Onomichi with young local folk.”
1 Chome-12-10 Tsuchido, Onomichi

Hosiló
Reykjavík

This tiny Reykjavík restaurant’s unassuming glass façade means that you could easily walk past without realising what riches lie inside. This subtlety is perhaps indicative of the fact that Hosiló doesn’t cater solely to tourists, unlike the Viking-themed establishments around it, despite showcasing the best Icelandic ingredients. Friends Númi Þorkell Thomasson, Atli Ottesen and Aðalsteinn Ragnar Benediktsson, who previously worked in some of the city’s top kitchens, set up shop in 2020 inside an atmospheric space with a church-like window. The menu changes weekly but might include such delights as baked Arctic char and skyr-and-strawberry dessert.
Hverfisgata 12

Images: Natalie Black, Adrian Gaut & Filip Niziol

Civic pride

Governments at all levels have a big job on their hands but city halls are playing an outsized role in helping municipal economies remain afloat while maintaining confidence in urban communities and ensuring that neighbourhoods keep their groove.

Why? Well, they’re nimbler and more connected to their constituents than their national or regional counterparts, allowing them to quickly tackle issues that affect the daily lives of those they represent, such as housing, employment, transportation and education. Take the town of Rockford, Illinois (population: 145,000), whose government turned $15,000 (€13,000) loans given to businesses hard hit by the pandemic into grants, thus relieving them of the need to repay. Other cities, including Bergen in Norway, are embarking on grand projects that will revitalise down-at-heel districts.

These are decisions made in the debating chambers and meeting rooms of civic institutions. Which begs the question: what does the actual building where such calls are made say about those it represents? These places should inspire politicians and the public to make good decisions and offer spaces for the community to convene.

Here we celebrate seven of our favourite such buildings from across the globe that do just that. They were ambitious when built and, importantly, continue to shape the ambitions of their cities now.

Oslo City Hall
Norway
Arnstein Arneberg & Magnus Poulsson

Architects Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson designed Oslo City Hall to house the capital’s administrative and political arms, as well as its ceremonies and celebrations. And according to the city’s mayor, Marianne Borgen, that’s how it still operates today. “The city council is in one tower, the administration is in the other and our grand function room is in the middle,” she says. In that grand hall, beneath a 21 metre-high ceiling, the Nobel peace prize has been presented in front of the world’s media every December since 1990. It is also where Oslo’s newly educated nurses and police officers are presented with their diplomas. “City Hall was built for democracy through togetherness and solidarity,” says Borgen.

Plans for the functionalist civic building were drawn up in 1915 but took another 35 years to be realised, partly due to the outbreak of the Second World War. City Hall eventually opened in 1950 and many of its exterior and interior artworks and murals reflect the social-democratic values prevalent in Norway at the time. Those values remain strong, as does a high level of trust between citizens, politicians and institutions in a city that has a reputation for protecting its residents’ wellbeing.

At present, Oslo is working towards becoming emission-free by 2030. To reach this goal, there are schemes in place including a 19km-long railway tunnel to the commuter city Ski, which will boost rush-hour capacity by 63 per cent; and a housing project called Oen that will create more energy than it uses. So although Oslo City Hall is made from red-brown brick, its future looks decidedly green.

Boston City Hall
USA
Gerhard Kallmann & Michael McKinnell

When the design for Boston City Hall was unveiled in 1962, someone in attendance was heard to say, “What the hell is that?” From its inception, the building, designed by Gerhard Kallmann and Michael McKinnell, has divided opinion. “It’s the premier example of brutalist architecture in North America,” says Patrick Brophy, Boston’s former chief of operations, who was responsible for managing construction and infrastructure projects in Massachusetts’ capital city for more than 25 years. “There are people who hate it and people who love it. I really like it.”

His affection for the building doesn’t extend to City Hall Plaza, the “windswept brick tundra of nothingness” that surrounds the structure. Happily, an extensive renovation is planned that will introduce features including a playground, accessible pathways and a public art space. “These interventions bring the plaza back down to a human scale, creating a more welcoming and inviting place,” says Brophy.

The refurbishment is part of an atmosphere of broader change in Boston. In 2021 the city elected Michelle Wu, a 36-year-old lawyer, as its new mayor. Wu’s platform, which includes the introduction of fare-free bus services and divestment from the fossil-fuel industry, will make Boston one of the most progressive large cities in the US.

Of course, even the most thoughtful renovation won’t win over all of City Hall’s detractors. Brophy doesn’t mind. “I’ve heard many times that it’s a hideous building,” he says. “But it’s ours. It’s unique to Boston and it serves its people.”

Ciudad Casa de Gobierno
Buenos Aires
Foster + Partners

Transparent, accessible and free-flowing, Ciudad Casa de Gobierno, designed by UK architects Foster + Partners, helped porteños to envisage a more integrated Buenos Aires when it opened in 2015 with a progressive city government in residence. Though originally commissioned as the headquarters of a bank, the building’s four storeys of full-height glass windows, staggered terraces, landscaped courtyards and a spacious auditorium blur traditional boundaries between interior and exterior, the state and the people.

“This sustainable building is a metaphor for how we consider good government to be,” says Fernando Straface, secretary-general of the city of Buenos Aires. “It should be open, accountable and self-sufficient, promoting good communication between city departments and citizens while serving the people.”

Nearly seven years on, the area surrounding City Hall is flourishing. Trees planted in the adjacent park have grown tall and provide shade to picnicking families, while free-to-hire Ecobici bicycles and an extended metro line connect thousands of residents to the area. The building and surrounding landscaping is part of a wider transformation of the formerly industrial Parque Patricios neighbourhood into a technology hub, prompted by tax incentives set out by former city mayor – and ex-president of Argentina – Mauricio Macri.

All this, says Straface, when coupled with the events of the past two years, has accelerated the “urban and digital transformation” of Buenos Aires. It’s a trajectory that city hall plans to continue under current mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta by investing in hard and soft infrastructure, including a new museum and revitalised historical quarter, as well as the launch of Creación Vivamos Cultura, a free streaming platform for on-demand Argentinian cultural productions. The hope? That the capital, like the building itself, will remain a place that’s accessible to and can actually be used by its people.

Aarhus City Hall
Denmark
Arne Jacobsen & Erik Møller

Mayor Jacob Bundsgaard is proud to call Aarhus City Hall his office. A jewel of Danish modernism designed by Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller, it opened in 1941. “Having a grand piece of art at the centre of decision-making is of vital importance,” says the recently re-elected 45-year-old Social Democrat, who has been running the Danish city since 2011.

The large concrete structure, plated with blocks of Norwegian marble, is defined by a uniform grid of square windows. The building’s interiors include spiralling staircases leading to spacious rooms fitted with furnishings by Danish designer Hans Wegner. Here, walls are lined with rows of narrow timber panels and floors are a mix of geometric parquet patterns and black-and-white mosaic tiles.

The mayor’s favourite room is the 100 sq m main hall, where imposing three-storey-high glass panels provide a sense of openness and transparency. “All the light that streams through reflects the way that we want our city’s democracy to work,” says Bundsgaard.

Aarhus is in the middle of an ongoing development that will transform its former industrial harbour into a mixed-use district with housing, swimming pools, a theatre and cafés. Other projects include a new hospital on the outskirts of the city, the conversion of a freight-train station into a cultural hub, and the first line of the Aarhus light rail, which will help the city to reach carbon neutrality by 2030.

Once all of this is completed, Aarhus will have some of Denmark’s finest cultural buildings, health institutions and public spaces, befitting of its status as the country’s hip second city.

Toronto City Hall
Canada
Viljo Revell

When Toronto’s new City Hall opened in 1965, it was a modernist totem in a city that was still wedded to its conservative, prohibitionist and colonial past – a place wary of the future. Designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell, the building was a statement of intent; a complex where two tall, semicircular office towers rise above and encircle a futuristic concrete dome. From the front of the building stretches a grand public square, easily viewed from mayor John Tory’s second-floor office.

“It’s great to look out at,” he says. “People skate here in winter; there are big concerts and protests. It all goes on here and it fills me with confidence about the city.”

If the building’s architecture was preoccupied with the future, the city has a similar focus now. “You could spend all of your time on the pandemic but you can’t afford to stop looking at the future,” says Tory, noting that city hall will have an important role to play in shaping the trajectory out of the pandemic, not only for Toronto but, as the city is Canada’s largest urban centre, the rest of the country too.

“Job one is building back confidence,” says Tory. Large-scale, long-term developments, such as major buildings by Moshe Safdie and Studio Gang, have a part to play in reasserting the city’s sense of itself, as do more localised initiatives, such as allowing restaurants to establish outdoor dining spaces in some kerb lanes across the city during the summer months. “We need to make sure that the building blocks are in place for Downtown to resuscitate itself in a robust way,” says Tory.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
Japan
Kenzo Tange

By any measure, Tokyo is a whopper. The metropolis proper comprises 26 cities, three towns, one village and the prize draw: the 23 special wards that make up central Tokyo. In addition there are two island groups in the Pacific Ocean that are administered by the capital. That all adds up to an area of 2,194 sq km and a population that hovers around 14 million. The financial side is gargantuan too: at ¥107trn (€835bn), it has the biggest city economy in the world.

So it should be no surprise that when Kenzo Tange, Japan’s most influential postwar architect, was commissioned to design a new city hall in Shinjuku, he went big. He designed three buildings, the main one of which is 48 storeys high. Part microchip, part epic cathedral, Tange’s Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building – completed in 1991 and known as “Tocho” for short – is a bombastic statement that says much about Japan at the pinnacle of its economic prowess.

For its current occupant, city governor Yuriko Koike, it’s a towering perch from which to view the sprawling city. Koike faces formidable challenges in 2022 and pandemic management remains top priority. But the governor, now in her second term, is pursuing her “Grand Reform of Tokyo 2.0” policy, focusing on digital technology to make the metropolis a more globalised, outward-looking city.

“Now is the time to take action, or Japan will be left behind in the world and the happiness of the people of Tokyo – and the rest of Japan – will not be realised,” said Koike, on announcing the policy. “[I’m determined to] create a Tokyo where everyone can shine vibrantly, by accelerating digital transformation immediately to become a global destination.”

Tokyo might be less confident than it was in 1991 but it is home to an industrious, creative population who have consistently proved that they will adapt to whatever life throws at them. Let’s hope that 2022 does indeed allow them to “shine”.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation building
Mumbai
Frederick William Stevens

It was built at a time of colonial domination, then thrown into disarray under a flourishing democracy. But in the past decade the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) building has blossomed into its own Indian blend of historical glamour and practical governance. The unusual V-shaped building in south Mumbai, home to a civic body that serves a population of more than 20 million, picks up on Indo-Saracenic and British neo-gothic architectural traditions. But in the 20th century its verandas were turned into offices, aluminium partitions were installed, gold leaf painted over and stencils lost behind pedestrian-looking tiles. By the turn of the millennium the roof was leaking and the timber was rotting. This wasn’t serving the people, never mind the employees of the country’s financial capital. So restoration began in the mid-2000s to turn it into a more functional and efficient city hall.

“The bmc building is both the nerve centre and administrative centre of Mumbai,” says conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah, who led the restoration project. “It’s a part of people’s lives. It’s not a museum piece but a living, breathing building.”

The renovation speaks to the ambitions of the people: Mumbaikars love their city’s unique architectural history. That’s why all eyes are now on a grand bungalow in Shivaji Park, another example of Mumbai’s fusion architecture, as it undergoes renovations to house a memorial for controversial politician Bal Thackeray. The more practical, though, are awaiting the opening of the bmc’s 10km coastal road, set to be completed by the end of 2022.

Upper hand

Fancy something handsome to see you through the cold snap? If so, Alberto Squillace is a handy contact. He owns Omega, a glove-maker in Naples that follows a centuries-old tradition of manufacturing. Inside his workshop in the Sanità area are craftspeople undertaking the 25 steps to create leather gloves lined with wool or cashmere. Hands up who’s interested?
Via Stella 12, 80137 Naples