A step inside the newest hotel in block, Hotel Okura Manila, immediately transports visitors from the bustle of highly urban and sophisticated Newport World Resorts Complex hotels to the charm and calm of old Japan. This magical experience is hugely the oeuvre of the imagination, creativity, and talents of the interior design teams of HBA Singapore and HBA Manila.

For its first venture in the country, the famous Japanese hotel group Okura Hotels and Resorts chose to work with the Singapore group of world-renowned hospitality interior design company HBA, under HBA Gaming Principal, Joseph Cruz, who had been with the design teams behind the world’s most illustrious casinos on the Las Vegas strip, including the SLS Hotel & Resort Casino, Bellagio Hotel Resort and Casino; Mirage Hotel Resort and Casino and Monte Carlo Hotel Resort and Casino, and the casino interiors of Nustar in Cebu, to name a few.

The vision was not just to bring the signature brand of service of the hotel here, but to capture and re-create a storybook experience of Japan that is rarely touted in today’s modern digital world. This hotel is the first of a continuing work team-up of HBA and Okura Hotels and Resorts groups, with HBA Manila under Principal Norman Agleron as the team that provided on-site support during the entire challenging period of almost-complete Pandemic lockdown that the hotel was being constructed and bedecked.

Cruz shares, “The request from both the owners NWR group and operatorsHotel Okura, is that we capture the essence of Japanese architecture and culture and transport their guests during their stay in the property. HBA did an in-depth study of both criteria and tailored our design to reflect the best examples we found not only in the big design gesture but also in the small details that can be found all over the hotel.”

Proof is definitely in the details as much as the overall impact, which is evident Immediately upon entering the premises, where guests are greeted with the enchantment of the incredibly diverse Japanese countryside where time seems to have stopped. Dramatic mountain ranges, flat rice fields, and green forests studded here and there with charming small towns with narrow streets dotted with wooden houses and temples from Edo period, come alive in one’s mind amidst the ingenious design application of modern glass and steel.

HBA engaged skilled craftsmen to create a see-though glass roof tiles that allow guests’ field of vision to expand even beyond.  ‘The Flight Chandelier’, the art installation creating the dramatic lighting is, according to Cruz, “like the first few days of “Tsuyu” – Japan’s rainy season, or Manila’s summer rain, flickering soft lights of fiber optics reminiscent of those warm balmy nights under the moonlight after a rain shower.” A creation of world-renowned British designer and artist Sharon Marston, the installation helps set the mood—the season—immediately, with its organic yet ethereal and poetic drama.

“The check-in pavilion and Robatayaki bar done with modern glass tiles, to the Bar, Concierge, and Private Dining pavilion are designed to represent those different buildings one could find in small, charming towns scattered all over Japan. The mountain ranges were recreated in the walls of the atrium using metal slats, light, and printed film.”

Breathtaking giant Bonsai trees complete the entire experience of every guest’s welcome and help to usher them throughout. Characteristically, as with the first experience in Japan, one is drawn further to experience even more of the quiet but warm characteristics of harmony, order, and artistry that Japan is known for.

The rooms would further affirm all three, along with the obsession for cleanliness in things, places, and oneself—a clear influence of Buddhism and the ancient religion ofShinto. Each room is a version of the ‘washitsu’ or Japanese-style room more known as a tatami room. Cruz explains that because of Manila’s humid weather, the tatami mats were used as a ceiling design instead of a floor element. To being the hotel guests’ good luck, the junctions of the ceiling tatami arrangements form the traditionally auspicious “T” shape.

Many tourists would attest to including an experience of the popular Onsen, or natural hot spring bathing, in their itineraries. HBA designed the private baths in each room after the more modern and private iteration, the ‘Sue Furo’, with signature handmade round Hinoki or Ofuro tubs brought in from Japan, allowing a multi-sensory experience of the much-touted relaxing and renewing practice.

Behind all the magic of the designs fully enjoyed, the HBA teams behind this first Japanese luxury hotel in Manila hit some stumbling blocks delivering their end of the bringing Japan to Manila or transporting Hotel Okura Manila guests to Japan during their stay.  The project had to proceed as scheduled through the region’s Pandemic lockdown, but the company’s renowned work ethic and commitment allowed the work tandem between the groups to work efficiently. HBA Manila’s Agleron shares, “work had still to continue despite the fact that HBA SG was not able to come to the site for more than 2 years. Although not a substitute, the team continued with online meetings to move the project during this time. We also had to make sure that items being sourced from Japan like the Hinokiyu tubs, Toto plumbing fixture and Japanese pine were able to make it to the site at the time they were needed. Resourcefulness of the contractors, help from Okura Team in Japan contributed into overcoming these issues.

“HBA Manila is integral part of HBA Global and we rely on the local team to provide on-site support whenever the overseas team needed eyes and ears on the ground. More than any other time, this was extremely important during regional lockdown,” Cruz attests. Not only did the HBA teams deliver, but this working relationship between HBA and Okura on this project is based on mutual respect and continuous to be very strong and through the succeeding ongoing and future projects.