Nobu Ryokan Malibu
No two suites are the same, and the modernized rooms are artfully designed to incorporate Japanese elements, such as tatami mats and shoji screens.
Each features its own custom teak soaking tubs placed under illuminating skylights. Balancing touches like sand-colored, full-height limestone walls evoke a California spirit.
"There is a moment when the sun enters through the bathroom skylight when you can feel the stillness and calm settle over you," says Studio PCH founder and principal Severine Tatangelo. "That’s the sensibility we aimed to capture in the rooms, patios, and gardens that really makes Nobu Ryokan a retreat destination."
A secluded entrance opens onto an ocean-facing courtyard filled with native California plants including trumpet vines, which were prominent in the gardens of the site’s original Casa Malibu. Guests can wander through the garden’s meandering paths, which lead to an intimate enclave with a grand outdoor board-formed concrete fireplace.
The inn’s central ipe wood deck offers expansive views of the Malibu pier to the west, Palos Verdes Peninsula to the east, and the seemingly endless Pacific Ocean to the south. The design emphasizes the harmony of the indoor and outdoor spaces through the reflections of nature in the architecture, and the balance maintained between the building, the color palette, and the energy flow—culminating in a serene and zen-like experience.