Onomichi City Museum of Art
Onomichi, Hiroshima
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Venue Overview
The Onomichi City Museum of Art, designed by Tadao Ando, is located within Onomichi’s hilltop Senkoji Park. The venue will host an exhibition titled “Nine Visions: Japanese Architects from Japan to the World,” exploring the appeal of Japanese architects who have won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture. The number of Japanese architects who have received the award is now the equal highest for any one country, alongside the United States. Why are Japanese architects so highly regarded on the global stage? How did they reach this level? This exhibition explores the talent and truth behind this phenomenon.
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Architectural Highlights
Designed by Tadao Ando (First opened in 1980; renovated in 2003). This municipal art museum was renovated by architect Tadao Ando in 2003, with a new wing added to the existing museum building. The new wing features a traditional Japanese tiled gabled roof modeled after the Saigoji Temple Main Hall, an important cultural property in Onomichi. It features exhibition rooms made of beautiful exposed concrete, a hallmark of Ando’s architecture, nestled within a glass screen-clad exterior with deep eaves. The design is similar to that of Ando’s famed Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, USA (which opened in 2002). “Spaces of emptiness” are incorporated throughout the building, such as between the new wing and the old building, and between the glass exterior and the exhibition rooms. Filled with greenery in the style of a courtyard, these spaces create secluded “hideaways” for visitors.