TOTO Seminar House (now TOTO Seawind Awaji, TOTOシーウィンド淡路)

TOTO Seawind Awaji (TOTOシーウィンド淡路) was completed in 1997. It was built as a seminar house for TOTO; today it also welcomes people with no connection to the company. Ando chose the site together with the client; he foresaw that the building's exterior would end up buried in the forest.

It was built by Takenaka and another contractor, and received a BCS Prize.

The hotel sits on a slope of about 45° with some 100 m of height difference, in eastern Awaji, along Osaka Bay. It has five storeys above ground and two below. Most of its structure is placed within the slope, to make the most of the view over the bay from each level. Neither the rooms nor the large bath readily show the sea: Ando wanted it so. The landscape, first hidden from view, then reveals itself all at once, like a picture framed by a window.

A gangway leads to the lift hall, from which the view opens up. The lobby looks over Osaka Bay, the restaurant is in shades of blue, and in summer a 25 m pool opens onto the sea.

The hotel has 14 rooms of three types (maisonette, Western-style, Japanese-style), all fitted with TOTO plumbing. Its 50-seat restaurant, by reservation only, serves Japanese kaiseki cuisine made with seafood and mountain produce from Awaji. A lecture room and a seminar room are rented to companies and groups for training sessions and meetings.

You discover the hotel by staying there: arrival is from 3 pm to 10 pm, check-out before 10 am, and booking is online through the official website. The hotel stands on a small hill, and the road calls for care when driving.