21_21 DESIGN SIGHT: Two Steel Plates Floating in the Landscape
This is a design gallery that was founded in 2007 by world-renowned designer Issey Miyake. Two large steel roofs informed by the site’s shape float in the landscape.
1: Origami-like roof
21_21 DESIGN SIGHT is located in the garden of a redevelopment, and it is mostly buried underground due to zoning regulations. Only its two steel roofs, folded like origami, are visible above ground.
21_21 DESIGN SIGHT (2007) by Tadao Ando and Photo: Masaya YoshimuraOriginal Source: Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
The steel surfaces designed to resonate with the gently sloping topography can be seen both as roofs and as uplifts in the earth, and they help fuse the architecture with the landscape.
A lot of technical ingenuity went into the details of the 54-meter-long steel roofs to give them the look of single unbroken surfaces. They were made possible by Japan’s advanced construction technology and the determination of the many people involved in their construction.
The entrance hall, whose sloping ceiling invites visitors down into the subterranean spaces in the depths of the building.
The triangularly framed scenery and the play of light and shadow.
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21_21 DESIGN SIGHT "traNslatioNs - Understanding Misunderstanding"(2020−2021) exhibition view
2: An Urban Canyon
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21_21 DESIGN SIGHT "traNslatioNs - Understanding Misunderstanding"(2020−2021) exhibition view
The canyon-like atrium leading into the galleries. A stairway descends along the face of the sheer drop. The dynamic underground space is unimaginable from the outside of the low-lying building.
Various installations are featured in the underground rooms and passageways that have been created by complexly combining geometries on the confined site.
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21_21 DESIGN SIGHT "traNslatioNs - Understanding Misunderstanding"(2020−2021) exhibition view
The main gallery with its 4.8-meter-tall ceiling is used to hold uniquely themed exhibitions several times a year. Natural light can also be brought into the space as needed.
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21_21 DESIGN SIGHT "traNslatioNs - Understanding Misunderstanding"(2020−2021) exhibition view
The sunken court inserted between the atrium and the main gallery.
It provides light and ventilation for the fully submerged galleries.
21_21 DESIGN SIGHT (2007) by Tadao AndoOriginal Source: Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
text：Shinichi Kawakatsu
Editor：Ryusuke Wada
Direction：neucitora
Supervision：Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
