Hello, I’m Yuki Tanaka.
I usually fly around Japan and work for an architecture-related job.
In many public facilities, such as art museums and natural history museums in the world, not only works that are exhibited but also architecture itself is interesting. By focusing on architecture, it will be more attractive and you can feel it closer.
When it comes to “architecture” it is often thought as a field, which you have to make difficult face and think with your arms crossed. I hope I can tell architecture not complicatedly but intelligibly so that you can feel architecture closer.
It is my pleasure if my introduction of architecture leads to the encounters or discoveries such as ”Didn’t know there was such a wonderful place!” or “Didn’t know there was such a point of view in my favorite place!”
This time it is “Itami Juzo Museum” in Matsuyama-city, Ehime prefecture.
This is a private memorial museum designed by an architect, Yoshifumi Nakamura who has designed so many wonderful houses, which are “normal and just good”. This museum displays rare goods related to Juzo Itami who had many faces such as commerce designer, actor, essayist, and film director.
All of his illustrations and films are full of sophisticated humor and this museum itself is also full of playfulness.
A gentle building, which fits with surrounding scenery
The building is shaped like a square donut, which surrounds a center courtyard. A concrete wall is covered with heat insulating material and the surface is wrapped with black wood.
This method, which covers outside of a building with heat insulating material, is called external insulation method.
By adopting this method that improves fundamental performance to make indoor comfortable, it helps to decrease the use of air-conditioning, which leads to energy saving and reducing maintenance costs.
The black wood surrounding the surface is burned board of Japanese cedar. By carbonizing the surface by burning it in advance, the wood will not burn easily when fire breaks out. Moreover, degradation by rain and wind will proceed slowly. Each of these burned Japanese cedar has different width and thickness. Therefore, the surface is slightly uneven and the building looks gentle in total.
In the garage outside, his last cherished car, Bentley is displayed. A number “8” is put up on it. About the mystery of “8” will be explained at the exhibition room in the building.
There is no such interesting exhibition room like this
The exhibition room is composed with 2 rooms. One is a collection gallery which is divided into 13 sections after his name “Juzo (‘十三’, Juzo in kanji literally means ‘thirteen’)” The other is an exhibition gallery with different exhibition held every period.
Exhibition in this type of museum is commonly left entirely to specialized company, which is in charge of exhibition design.
However, impressing thing is that Nakamura do not leave it to specialist. Selection of displayed goods, how it is displayed with interesting tricks and designs related to the exhibition were also designed by him.
Nakamura learned a lot from Itami’s essay, which he encountered in his school days. It is said that he is a big fan of Itami as he calls himself “Itamist”. It seems like he was quite passionate about the design of this museum. He told as follows.
“ I designed this museum as I am showing all of my ‘art’ as an architect”
His technique and humor stand out in this exhibition space. Even if visiting several times, it is a space where it is possible to have new discoveries each time.
A courtyard with corridor where time flows as if it is apart from surroundings
The courtyard locates in the center of the building. There, a beautiful shaped katsura tree is planted.
This tree is shaped as if 2 trees stand close together. Nakamura chose it by imaging confidant Itami and his wife, Nobuko Miyamoto.
Then, the corridor surrounding the courtyard. Nakamura used silent atmosphere that he experienced at a corridor of a convent to design this corridor.
A bench named “perch bench” is set at the corridor. This 18.5cm depth narrow bench does not disturb people who walk the corridor while it keeps the minimum dimension to sit without inconvenience.
After enjoying the exhibition, sit on this bench and face with the courtyard. When you look at shining sunshine and pouring rain, time goes by slowly and what you hear is only sound of nature.
This corridor provides you the luxurious experience.
Pillars are arranged at equal intervals. One of the double pillars is a downpipe. It gathers rain that poured on roof and helps to flow to the right place. I felt it is skillful that it was not designed to hide but made to fit into the row of pillars.
A museum café with the theme of Itami’s premier film Tampopo
After looking through the exhibition, to immerse in an aftertaste at a café is one of the pleasures of museum.
At “Café Tampopo”, you can enjoy cakes related to Itami and liquors he loved.
There are marks of cute dandelions on glass. It delights the eye but also these marks, which are set 1m heights from a floor, have a function of collision prevention so that people will not run into the glass.
Personally, I got excited for a cash tray with full sense of handwork.
I noticed that I became a strange customer calling repeatedly and unconsciously, “Great, this is great!”
In addition, it was very impressive that the staff was telling the building’s good points happily.
In a fine building, there is always someone who really loves the building. While spending time in the building with love, someone discovers new treatments and charms that even the designer did not intend.
I felt happy that I could see a building that is loved and brought up by people who spend time in there.
Two ways to look down this museum from bird’s eyes
First, is to order a chocolate cake at the café. The chocolate cake made by a local pastry chef use this building as a motif and it is as if watching the model of this building. You can enjoy the building not only visually but also with taste.
Second, is the pamphlet, which you can receive at the entrance.
You can know about the appearance of the building intuitively through an illustration drawn by Nakamura.
Moreover, the roof of it can be opened right and left, and there is a simple drawing of the building. You can also feel this building from the action of opening the pamphlet.
Besides, this museum is full of many other fine humors. Please visit and experience it.
Lastly, there is a phrase in Itami’s essay Onnatachiyo! (“Hey, women!” in Japanese)
“Music was not written for ear or eardrum. I want you to remember that it was written for your heart once more.”
Exhibition space is the same and it is not designed only for eyes.
This building told me once again that it is designed for heart of people such as excitement by tricks that can be touched and moving feeling by distance between displayed goods.
【Information】
Itami Juzo Museum
Address: Ehime, Matsuyama, Higashi-ishii 1–6–10
website: http://itami-kinenkan.jp
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