Bulgari Hotel Tokyo integrates sustainability in a dialogue between Rome Japan 

Designed by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, Bulgari Hotel Tokyo fuses Roman geometry with Japanese rhythm, embracing a plastic-free policy and local sourcing at Il Ristorante

Bulgari Hotel Tokyo and the intersection of Rome and Japan

Opened in 2023, Bulgari Hotel Tokyo occupies the fortieth to forty-fifth floors of the Tokyo Midtown Yaesu skyscraper, facing the Imperial Palace Gardens and the urban grid of Chuo-ku. Designed by ACPV Architects – Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, the hotel marks the ninth property in the Bulgari Hotels & Resorts collection and the brand’s first in Japan.

The design translates Bulgari’s Roman heritage into the architectural language of Tokyo. Green marble at the entrance, absolute black granite on the floors, bronze frames and soft wood finishes define a palette of precision and restraint. The ninety-eight rooms and suites extend along the tower’s upper levels, while the rooftop hosts a garden and bar suspended above the city.

On the walls, sketches of historic jewelry alternate with photographs of Italian actresses—Monica Vitti, Virna Lisi—symbols of an era that still defines the brand’s cultural memory. These images create a gentle sense of displacement, connecting the disciplined geometry of Tokyo to the cinematic myth of Rome. Vases with ikebana arrangements on the tables echo this tension: compositional order as a form of dialogue.

Seen from the 40th-floor terrace, Tokyo unfolds as a constellation of light. The hotel frames this view as a living landscape, a moving reflection on the city’s pace and the coexistence of contrasting traditions.

Sustainable hotellerie: a plastic-free philosophy

Despite its association with jewelry and luxury, Bulgari Hotel Tokyo integrates a contemporary ethic of sustainable hotellerie. The property is entirely plastic-free: refillable containers replace disposable amenities, cork soles replace synthetic slippers, and packaging for spa and dining services is biodegradable.

This environmental direction aligns with Bulgari’s broader corporate policy within the LVMH Life 360 framework, aimed at reducing emissions, waste, and single-use materials. In Tokyo, sustainability is not expressed through grand declarations but through invisible systems. In-room tablets replace printed guides, cleaning products are biodegradable, and energy consumption is monitored through automated controls.

The Bulgari Spa on the fortieth floor aims at promoting a sense of calm through water and geometry. A twenty-five-meter pool stretches along the skyline, while a traditional onsen bath—kept at forty degrees—anchors the experience in Japanese ritual. The space is built around a wall mosaic, where light moves like water, transforming the architecture into reflection. The scent of green tea, diffused in every room, becomes part of the hotel’s sensory identity.

Here, sustainability merges with perception: the absence of plastic or excess sound defines an atmosphere of precision. Environmental awareness is treated as structure, not decoration—a quiet integration into the daily rhythm of hospitality.

Sustainable hotel design: architecture as continuity

The project by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel interprets sustainable hotel design as a study of permanence. Materials are selected for longevity and maintenance ease—stone, wood, linen, bronze—favoring textures that age without losing integrity.

At the ground level, the green marble entrance contrasts with the dark granite pavement. The materials continue upward, reappearing in the suites and public spaces, creating a sense of vertical continuity. Natural light filters through controlled openings, modulated by curtains in neutral tones.

Each suite follows a spatial order based on four rooms: a living area, a dressing room, a bathroom, and a corner bedroom. The rhythm of these transitions reflects a Japanese principle of progressive intimacy, while the proportions recall the Roman domus—open yet enclosed, monumental yet quiet.

Technology is discreet. Dyson hairdryers and Flos lamps by Michael Anastassiades combine function and form without spectacle. The architecture operates by subtraction, where luxury is expressed through silence and time.

Ethics and aesthetics: dining as cultural translation

The hotel’s culinary center, Il Ristorante – Niko Romito, sits on the fortieth floor, facing the skyline. Under the direction of Chef Mauro Aloisio, it embodies the intersection of ethics and aesthetics through food. The restaurant has received one Michelin Star in both 2024 and 2025, consolidating its identity as a dialogue between Italian and Japanese culinary cultures.

Romito’s cuisine, defined by essentiality and purity, encounters Japan’s ritual of precision. Local ingredients replace imports—lobster from the Pacific coast, pork raised in Kyushu, Miyazaki wagyu, Ishidai fish, Kyoto eggplant transformed into a lacquered reduction that evokes notes of tobacco and vanilla. Vegetables and fruits follow the seasons: Yamanashi peaches, Fuji apples, island mangoes, and rare strawberries.

In Japan, dining is ceremony. Many guests choose the Omakase formula, entrusting the meal to the chef’s sequence. Each course becomes a narrative of proximity: how geography and craftsmanship translate into flavor. Sustainability is expressed through discipline rather than abundance—through care for what is near, not nostalgia for what is distant.

Aloisio’s kitchen works with direct suppliers and small producers. Waste is reduced through closed-loop systems, and ingredients are reused creatively—eggplant peels turned into glazes, herbs distilled into broths. The logic is circular, echoing the architecture above it: controlled, consistent, precise.

Craft manufacturing: from jewelry sketches to interior detail

Throughout the hotel, craft manufacturing defines the aesthetic framework. The interiors are conceived as compositions of handmade surfaces and calibrated light. Walls and ceilings are finished with textured plaster, lamps and mirrors with bronze edging, fabrics woven for translucency rather than opacity.

The jewelry sketches displayed in corridors and suites act as visual thresholds between design and craft. Drawings of Bulgari’s historic pieces—bracelets, brooches, tiaras—are juxtaposed with portraits of Italian divas and royal clients. The combination of jewelry and photography constructs a cultural map that connects Tokyo’s restraint with Rome’s theatricality.

In this dialogue, craft becomes a means of mediation. Italian artisans collaborated with Japanese makers in textiles, ceramics, and glass. The ikebana arrangements scattered through the spaces transform natural material into structure, following the same principle that governs jewelry: precision through handwork.

The craftsmanship extends to the spatial rhythm. Doors, frames, and handles are custom-made; even the sound of closing mechanisms was calibrated to align with the hotel’s acoustic tone. In this sense, Bulgari Hotel Tokyo functions as a laboratory of tactility—a place where the boundary between industry and artistry is deliberately blurred.

A system of coexistence: architecture, time, and meaning

Since its opening, Bulgari Hotel Tokyo has positioned itself as a study in coexistence—between two aesthetic systems, two histories of making, two interpretations of silence. The property consolidates Bulgari’s philosophy of precision: a design where emotion is replaced by exactness.

From the rooftop garden, the city stretches in every direction, infinite yet contained. The Bulgari Bar extends along the terrace, framed by a living wall of greenery and reflected light. The view toward the Imperial Palace Gardens contrasts with the mirrored façades of Yaesu—past and present facing each other through glass.

The hotel’s architecture does not imitate its surroundings; it absorbs them. The rhythm of trains below, the seasonal color of the gardens, the humidity of summer air—all become part of the building’s atmosphere. Bulgari Hotel Tokyo functions as an instrument tuned to the city’s frequency, translating motion into equilibrium.

Within this system, sustainability is understood as continuity. Materials endure, gestures repeat, and human scale prevails over spectacle. Environmental awareness merges with cultural awareness: a single ethic that defines both how things are made and how they are perceived.

This approach reflects a broader cultural trajectory within Bulgari Hotels & Resorts: a shift from opulence to observation. Each property becomes a fragment of a larger narrative on architecture and responsibility. In Tokyo, this dialogue intensifies—the city’s density and pace compel the hotel to slow down, to focus on proportion and duration rather than novelty.

The coexistence of Roman geometry and Japanese precision becomes an allegory of contemporary hospitality. Bulgari Hotel Tokyo stands as an observatory of balance, a place where luxury transforms into awareness, and where architecture learns to breathe at the rhythm of the city it inhabits.

Bulgari Hotel Tokyo

Bulgari Hotel Tokyo, located on the fortieth to forty-fifth floors of Tokyo Midtown Yaesu, overlooks the Imperial Palace Gardens. Designed by ACPV Architects Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, the hotel combines Italian architectural precision with Japanese spatial discipline. It features ninety-eight rooms and suites, a rooftop garden bar, and the Michelin-starred Il Ristorante – Niko Romito. The property operates under a plastic-free policy and integrates sustainable design materials and energy-efficient systems.