Hello, I’m Yuki Tanaka.
This time I will introduce an art museum by focusing on architecture.
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.
It is my pleasure if my introduction of architecture leads to the encounters with wonderful buildings or new discoveries.
A museum hidden on a cliff
“Tenshin Memorial Museum of Art, Ibaraki” is located near Izura seashore in Ibaraki prefecture. In Izura seashore, you can enjoy picturesque scenery of cliffs with black pines and the ocean or Japanese style inn with a hot spring full of atmosphere.
In this area, where it is said to be a birthplace of modern art, there is a museum.
A cliff where you can look down the Pacific Ocean. On this cliff, you can find “Tenshin Memorial Museum of Art, Ibaraki”
Okakura Tenshin developed Japanese art culture and completed great achievements in telling wonderfulness of it to the world. There are many facilities related to Tenshin in this area, where he loved at one sight and lived until he died. This museum was built as a mark of respect for Tenshin.
The building was designed by an architect, Hiroshi Naito. He designed this museum with many thoughts and minds. Naito told as follows.
“Izura is a place of scenic beauty and historic landmark where it is famous in connection with Okakura Tenshin. To build a building is adding something in scenery even if you concern as possible. How to place the building in this limited space on a cliff where you can look down the ocean was an issue from the beginning.”
Especially when planning a building in a place with wonderful scenery, it is important that how surrounding environment and the building harmonize each other.
Izura seashore has its rich nature and the scenery, which is selected as one of the 100 best sound sceneries in Japan.
In this museum, adjusting placement of the height of the ground and trees, and limiting the height of the building mellow the presence of the building itself. These methods made possible to build this museum without missing the beautiful scenery of Izura seashore.
A basin filled with thoughts of Okakura Tenshin and the architect
There is a large basin in a courtyard in front of the museum. The basin, which is not a pond but thinly filled with water, has a mysterious power that makes the place holy space. The look of the building wavering on the surface of water is very beautiful. It made me forget the time and I gazed it unconsciously.
Water wells up silently, which is set aside from the center of the basin. This spring water is arranged to line straightly towards the relief of Okakura Tenshin statue inside the museum and the huge ocean that spread beyond. 1872 is the year around 10 years later Yokohama opened a port after the end of national isolation. Okakura Tenshin, at the age of 9, yearned for the world over the ocean and learned English. Later, he had introduced Japanese art culture to the world as a Japanese who can speak fluent English, which was rare at that time.
This basin was designed to express his passion and spirit towards abroad to complete numerous great achievements. When architect designs a building, he or she secretly puts thoughts into arrangement and size of an object. The reason why this basin makes us feel mysterious attractiveness may be that these thoughts are put in.
Large space with techniques beneath
When you enter the building, there is a big entrance lobby. It is surprising that there is a gap with the façade, which restrained the sense of presence. This 24m wide large space is a cardinal point of exhibition space, café and museum shop. It is a pleasant space where plentiful sunlight comes in.
When you stand and look up in the entrance lobby, there is a large concrete beam.
When it is normal concrete, it is difficult to build a space of this size with the problem of strength. In this museum, by using a method called “prestressed concrete” made possible to build this large space.
To explain about it, a method below is applied to the concrete.
Set reinforcing rod and hose shaped thing, then pour concrete in a wooden frame.When concrete is solidified, stretch hose shaped thing from both side with machine.By fixing the points of hose shaped thing as it is, stretch power dwell in the concrete and the strong concrete is finished. (I borrowed a word from an alien of stretch seventh nebula, which is a character from Japanese TV program)
Concrete made by this method is called “prestressed concrete”.
The large space of the entrance lobby is made by using and mixing techniques like this.
There is someone who thinks, “I want to build a large space where it is comfortable to stay”, and there is someone who creates new techniques after trial and error thinking, “Aren’t there any methods that can make it happen somehow?”
In this way, possibilities of architecture have developed rapidly, and wonderful buildings and spaces have been built.
Marks are set for collision prevention on glass in the building. Tenshin’s profiles all over the building tell, “Be careful, here is glass.”
From an observation space, you can view the Izura Ocean, which Tenshin loved. It was a wonderful space to enjoy the ocean view in front with elation after appreciating the exhibition.
To build a museum in front of the ocean
Although the landscape is beautiful along the coast, it involves the risk of damage of buildings and exhibits due to intense weather condition and salt damage. The building, which is in a position to protect the delicate work of art, is responsible to cope with the risk. If you focus on architecture, it is possible to discover various invent from this museum too.
The roof is tiled with metal called zinc, which is resistant to damage from salt damage. Moreover, zinc is also resistant to rust and exhibits its characteristics in harsh environment.
The surface of wall, both inside and outside, is finished by soil called diatom earth. This is, not just that it is resistant to intense weather condition but also intended to adapt the building to the surrounding nature by standing from the land. Apart from that, setting the entrance of the building to the opposite side from the ocean enables to avoid the sea wind to go inside the building as possible, and setting a special filter on air conditioner makes salinity inside the building almost zero.
At café “Camellia”, you can enjoy drink and meal with the ocean view. The beef curry served here was exquisite. Plenty of big meat in dense roux stewed slowly was my favorite.
In a hiking course around the museum, there is a place where you can view the Izura Ocean from a cliff. It is an attractive and comfortable place where you can hear sound of wave, but please watch your feet since there is no fence.
At last, there is a book called Book of Tea, which Tenshin wrote to tell Japanese aesthetic sense to the world through the theme of tea ceremony. There, he wrote as follows.
“Haven’t you noticed that the number of wild flowers are getting less every year? That is, because wise man in them told that they should leave this world until people become more humane. Thus, they might have moved to heaven.”
Building a museum on this cliff where only nature used to breathe. It may have applied some treatment to the original nature.
However, there is a planner’s thought that wants to build a museum to praise Tenshin, and an architect’s thought that designed not to spoil this wonderful scenery as much as he could.
When I saw Arctic daisies, which grow wild near the seashore, blooming strongly by the side of this museum, I felt that it is a museum that Tenshin’s thoughts are also respected.
【Information】
Tenshin Memorial Museum of Art, Ibaraki
Address: Ibaraki, Kitaibaraki, Ohtsumachi 2083
website: http://www.tenshin.museum.ibk.ed.jp