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 Vol. 34 Autumn 2005 |
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Recent years have seen the opening of a number of art museums that exude a highly individualistic presence and distinctive appeal. These institutions are striking for their architecture and construction, and many have been designed to effectively showcase the works of specific artists. Such projects demand a combination of high competence in architectural and building techniques and appreciation of art on the part of the design and construction firms, and in this regard Kajima has won a reputation for excellence among clients and museum visitors for innovative technical proposals and construction based on successful experience with a number of museum projects. In this feature article, we spotlight two art museums opened this year that epitomize a new generation of art museums. Lalique Museum, Hakone Lalique Museum, Hakone is an art museum that displays a permanent collection of the works of Japonisme master René Lalique (1860-1945), the artist who raised glassworking from a craft to a fine art. The museum, which opened on March 19, 2005, is situated on the scenic Hakone Sengokuhara plateau, one of Japan's foremost tourist spots. Dispersed on the grounds of a dazzlingly beautiful site bisected by a stream and surrounded by forest are a two-story museum building with total floor space of 2,600 square meters (28,000 square feet), a café, and a gift shop. The buildings, designed in a motif that recalls a traditional Japanese rural dwelling and configured to resemble a main house and sheds, blend in with the surrounding nature to effectively showcase the world of Lalique. |
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In the words of Katsumi Kosuge of Kajima's Architectural Design Division, who did the architectural design, "I decided on a basic concept of creating a spot where beauty, nature, and people converge in Hakone, an area blessed with abundant nature and scenery." Masato Hori did the landscape design. What the two designers aimed to achieve was a museum that brings out the appeal of Lalique to maximum effect: a garden resort museum where nature, the recurring motif in Lalique's works, and the buildings are united in harmonious balance. The museum possesses a collection of about 1,500 pieces of Lalique's varied works, including jewelry, glasswork, and architectural decorations. A carefully chosen group of about 230 items is on display. Lalique was involved in the architectural decoration of the cars on the famous Orient Express, and a salon car from the Côte d'Azur Pullman Express section of the Orient Express was brought from Europe for display on the museum site. |
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Tomihiro Art Museum Situated in the mountains of Gunma Prefecture, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Tokyo, the Tomihiro Art Museum houses a permanent collection of the works of watercolor artist and poet Tomihiro Hoshino. During physical rehabilitation after a cervical spine injury paralyzed him from the neck down, Mr. Hoshino took a brush in his mouth and learned to write and paint. The artist's dauntless spirit and love of life are strikingly expressed through poem-paintings depicting the flowering grasses of his hometown. His works evoked deep emotions among viewers at poem-painting exhibitions across Japan, and the enthusiastic response of the public led to the opening in 1991 of the Tomihiro Art Museum. The total number of museum visitors had exceeded 4.6 million by the summer of 2004, and the lack of display space and problems with the interior environment of the museum building prompted a plan to construct a new museum. An open international design competition was held, and a proposal from Makoto Yokomizo was selected from among 1,211 entries received from 54 countries and regions around the world. The innovative architecture features a square building 52 meters (170 feet) on a side containing 33 circular display rooms, each having a different diameter. According to Mr. Yokomizo, "The linear array of cornerless rooms goes together with the world of Tomihiro Hoshino's poem-paintings." Kajima was selected to handle construction of the museum in a public participation competition for execution scheme proposals. Construction of the single-story 2,643- square-meter (28,000-square-foot) museum was completed in September 2004, and the museum opened on April 16, 2005 following a preparation period. Looking back on the work, construction office chief Tsutomu Iijima commented, "I will be pleased if people regard the building as another work of art alongside the artistic gems in the collection." |
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| An exhibit room features an innovative arrangement of circular display rooms. The Tomihiro Art Museum, Gunma Prefecture |
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Museum Environment Engineering Protects Exhibits and Collections The construction of art museums and history museums not only requires a high degree of design and architectural accomplishment, but also entails many considerations not apparent in the architectural form: for instance, the need to begin use of the structure soon after the completion of construction and energy conservation requirements. This is the responsibility of the Kajima Technical Research Institute's Building Environment Group, whose principal duties are the rapid elimination of any indoor air-quality reduction factors stemming from construction or facilities and response to changes in the exhibit or collection environment. Air quality assurance involves temperature and humidity stabilization and the reduction of alkali diffused from concrete and other construction materials after the completion of construction. Shortening the time required for this post-construction preparation makes possible early use of the building. Responding to environmental change involves maintenance of the indoor environment to guard exhibits and the collection from changes in temperature and humidity, light, and chemical substances after the museum opens. Supervisory Research Engineer Akio Sagae, Dr. Eng, comments, "Maintenance of the optimum environment for the conservation of art objects is our mission." This is the dependable behind-the-scenes power that provides essential support for this new generation of highly individualist art museums. Other Individualist Art Museums across Japan The Chichu Art Museum, which opened in July 2004 in the city of Naoshima, Kagawa Prefecture on the Seto Inland Sea, was designed to display the work of three artists, including the Impressionist master Claude Monet. This museum offers splendidly harmonious blending of art, space, and light. Kajima is currently involved in the construction of several other art museums, including the Kyushu National Museum (scheduled to open in October 2005), the National Art Center, Tokyo (scheduled to open in 2007) and the Yokosuka Museum of Art (provisional name; scheduled to open in 2007). All of these institutions promise to be magnificent, one-of- a-kind museums with highly distinctive themes. |
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 Vol. 34 Autumn 2005
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