Regina Resort

Regina Resort Old Karuizawa is a pet-friendly resort hotel beside the old Nakasendo highway in Nagano Prefecture, part of a brand that operates at popular Kanto-area destinations including Hakone and Fujiyoshida. The surrounding area, near the famous Kumoba Pond, is a quiet summer-colony setting rich in nature. Architecture and landscape were developed together from concept through site supervision; the building interprets the brand's "stay with your dog" philosophy through the typology of a doghouse, Inugoya or THE ROOM. Karuizawa's strict height limits led to distinctive roof and window-framing shapes that give the hotel its character. The landscape team first studied local flora, fauna and history: Karuizawa supports alpine plants absent from warmer Tokyo, and is home to Japanese squirrels and great spotted woodpeckers; long-term residents are protective of the existing landscape, so the design had to merge with it. At the drop-off, two rainwater downpipes descend from the canyon-shaped roof into 3D graphic-concrete basins stamped with a dog-dot motif, beside a star magnolia accent tree. To outdo earlier Regina properties, the team proposed a "ROOM SHARE" concept: guests, their dogs, wild birds, small mammals, butterflies and insects all share the landscape. Broad platforms for dogs, landscape stones for birds, and trees whose fruit feeds squirrels and birds encourage coexistence. Deciduous and coniferous trees form a skeletonal grove, with Japanese maples and magnolias dotted through for elegance. Local stones - Saku teppei stone for paving, porous Asama volcanic rock for feature stones and gabions - are used throughout, moss growing in the rock pores and dew collecting for birds to drink. Opened in November 2017, the hotel has been warmly received by guests who report waking to birdsong and enjoying forest bathing and dog runs.