Plants donated by local residents cover undulating facade of SOIL Nihonbashi

Rust-red panels of corrugated steel curve around this narrow 14-room hotel in central Tokyo, designed by Kiyoaki Takeda Architects and Staple Studio to reflect the neighbourhood's longstanding culture of "alleyway gardening".

SOIL Nihonbashi rises nine storeys above the tight-knit backstreets of Nihonbashi, Tokyo's Edo-era commercial quarter, in which skyscrapers flank traditional eateries and centuries-old speciality shops dedicated to lacquerware, toothpicks and rice crackers.

SOIL...