Photographs : Mitsumasa Fujitsuka

Suntory Museum of Art



The entire building is covered with vertical louvers made of white ceramic panels. Choice of the latter has been made out of the imagery of earthenware and porcelain pieces that compose this museum’s collection. Because ceramic panels are rather weak as material, they are usually thickened or cast into concrete for enhanced strength: as a result they tend to be heavy and dull, a far cry from the delicate imagery of a tea bowl. In this project, development of a new method of reinforcing thin ceramic panels with aluminum extrusion has made it possible to use extra-fine edges in the details. Our idea was to realize within a massive urban architecture an?imagery so fragile that it may break if not handled wholeheartedly.



Suntory Museum of Art - Information:

Design Period: 2004 April-2006 April
Construction Period: 2004 May-2007 January
Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo
Principal use: Museum
Site area: 68,891.63 m2
Total floor area: 4,663.23 m2
Stories: 6 stories, 3 basements
Design: Kengo Kuma & Associates + Nikken Sekkei
Structural engineers: Nikken Sekkei
Mechanical engineers: Nikken Sekkei
General contractors: Takenaka Corporation + Taisei Corporation





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Kengo Kuma & Associates

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Suntory Museum of Art Building : page - adrian welch / isabelle lomholt