Photographer: Shinya Kigure

Creative minds from Japan and abroad gathered in Maebashi, Gunma to revitalize the city once prospered in the silk industry. Shiroiya Hotel is a living room for the locals ad travelers to relax and enjoy art, food, and green. It served also as a cultural axis of Maebashi where various projects are in progress for the city to grow.

An architect Sou Fujimoto has renovated an old hotel building of the '70s and created an atrium, by taking down the floors and exposing the rough concrete surface, where his staircases interact with Leandro Erlich's 'Lighting Pipes' which reminds the trace of water pipes running through the old edifice in the past. This part is referred to as 'Heritage Tower' with the respect to the site where a history of more than 300 years of hotel business continued in the past.

Fujimoto also designed a new building called ' Green Tower' with the image of the hillock, typical scenery of the region by the Tone River.

Visitors are welcomed by the artwork of Lawrence Weiner and Hiroshi Sugimoto when entering the premises. As if visiting a museum, each guest room exhibits unique artwork of the local and internationally acclaimed artists such as Tatsuo Miyajima and Ryan Gander.