Project: BAR 

Location: Tokyo

Geographic coordinate:  35.6764° N, 139.6500° E

Year: 2016-2018

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Studio:  Himawari Sekkei

Role: Architect Designer​

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ABSTRACT

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Ji Gong was a Rinzai Zen monk known not for discipline, but for his wandering spirit and love of sake. He served the divine while defying convention—a “mad monk” whose eccentricity endeared him to the people. This project, commissioned by an owner deeply inspired by Ji Gong’s legacy, translates that paradoxical freedom into architectural form.

The shelves are supported by Japanese sake bottles, their soft internal glow illuminating a global collection of spirits. Ichiro’s Malt and Jack Daniel rest as equals on the same plane—like a learned priest sharing a table with strangers on the street.

The designer oversaw the process from concept to completion. Glossy black walls reflect and expand the space, lending it an air of quiet infinity. Tension and timelessness emerge from the contrast: sharp shelf lines, a restrained box sofa, a chandelier suspended in composure. Tradition and transgression, order and impulse—these opposing forces collide, echoing Ji Gong’s way of being.

No metal joints appear. Bottles alone hold the structure. Lights are embedded within 18mm-thick shelves, casting a warm glow from below. Ingenuity lies in the everyday: Japanese sake bottles, repurposed as structural elements, now support the world’s liquors in an architecture of playful reverence.