[MUSIC PLAYING]
Architecture in Japanese
is all-encompassing.
When we say architecture, we
really mean design in the US.
Here, architecture,
there's no difference
between really design and
building and construction.
The craftsmen are
always the ones.
Not the architects.
They didn't have architects.
That was very intriguing to me.
And that's what
probably led me here.
I guess it was the MIT
Japan program then.
It's MISTI now?
OK, so it's changed, but that's
how I started to come over.
I'm Geoff Moussas and I'm
an architect based in Japan.
It was at the very end of
my education almost at MIT
in my graduate program that I
started to become interested in
and came here for
the first time.
I was born and
raised in New York.
So New York to Tokyo is not as
different as maybe even going
from Tokyo to then I
came here to Kyoto.
And for me, Kyoto matches my
lifestyle and expectations.
So I'm very happy.
Once I got here, then I
realized this is probably
the best place to set my base.
I do a full range from
restoring old Machiya
traditional townhouses
to making new
reinforced concrete buildings
and hotels and so forth
and shops and temple
buildings too.
Not only here too,
throughout the world.
We're in the very center
of Gion. So this
is an old Machiya, probably
about 100 years old.
It's been renovated
several times already.
So primarily, it's a
restoration project,
getting it, bringing whatever
we can back, but not restoration
and preservation because
we need new facilities.
But they want tradition.
It's not just a hotel.
The advantage is you
come here and you're
surrounded by all the original
craftsmanship, which is very
difficult to reproduce today.
So it's a balance and
that merging of the two,
it's almost merging
of the two cultures.
Because the modern part is
pretty much from the West,
so merging the East
and the West in a way
and modern and traditional.
I've been quite blessed, I
think, starting off from MIT
and then jumping to here.
I have been quite
fortunate in a lot of ways.
Most things that are
worth it are difficult
and take a lot of effort.
I think you have to just go
with what you feel is right.
So, I mean, that's part
of my journey here.
It hasn't been all
smooth for sure.
But I think in
the long run, it's
definitely what's right for me.
