Japanese architecture firm Tato Architects has built a hotel that creates "a painted impression" on its facade in Osaka, Japan. Named The Blend Inn, the concrete hotel was designed to accommodate different needs of users with a charming and inviting approach. 

The three-storey hotel is built from only concrete material but to make the building more attractive, the architects designed large windows and used colourful curtains that reflect alternative uses and funny life inside the building. 

Located in a quiet area - outside the city centre - in a neighborhood with a diverse and pleasant atmosphere, the building was developed with a client who fell in love with the area, and an artist friend of his.

The main purpose of the hotel was to make  a rediscovery of the neighborhoods' charms and add more life to the area. "The real-estate firm suggested that it could complete the project, after which it could be rented by the client and used as a hotel," explained Tato Architects in a project statement.

Based on this basic design principle, the architects created a concrete shell that can adapt to accommodate different functions. In the interior, the hotel consists of different types of furnitures made of aluminum furring studs and jack-up tripods, and used parts from clip lamps, made for construction sites, is used for a variety of holders. 

"The hotel is designed with a bricolage of things that happened to be available. We thought that this would make these contrivances, cobbled together out of various things made by local elderly people, artists and the accumulation of living intelligence in the neighborhood, seem even more brilliant," said the architects.

Taking cues from the illegally constructed structures that are a common sight on rooftops throughout the area, the architects decided to build a plastic covered structure to hang out laundry, and to set up some poles that can be fitted with roof shades in the summer.

"We limited the floor height on the first floor to create the feeling of the space stretching up and integrating with the corridor on the second floor via the foyer. We also installed a shared kitchen with a large table for people to gather and meet in the large space," they added.

"The artist, who at the time was using part of the hotel as his base, anticipated that the design (created by our friends at dot architects) of a self-build outbuilding would lead to a better connection between hotel and town, creating closer ties to the neighborhood."

The architects tried to blur the boundary lines and create an open atmosphere toward the town by using normal and water-permeable bricks that had been unearthed in the process of excavating the site, to straddle and pave the site and road.

All photographs © Shinkenchiku-sha

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