Tadao Ando's Naoshima New Museum of Art to open in early 2025

2024-11-27T09:11:00-05:00

Tadao Ando’s close three-decade building relationship with the Benesse Art Site in western Japan will celebrate a new milestone next spring with the opening of the Naoshima New Museum of Art, his tenth contribution for the cultural destination on Naoshima Island.

The scheme sighted the more than 34,000-square-foot museum to carefully integrate its hilltop surroundings, at the peak of which begins a progression down toward the structure that's finished externally with black plaster material reminiscent of burned cedar walls and ends in stacked pebble walls framing views from the Honmura district out onto the Seto Inland Sea.

Image rendering courtesy Tadao Ando

The project was meant to showcase both a new permanent collection and rotating exhibitions of art from Asia, adding four galleries and a ground-level café to the location whose entry sequence draws out further connections between the space, land, and people of the island.

Image rendering courtesy Tadao Ando

There are two basement...

Pico Iyer visits Japan's Naoshima island

2011-07-13T13:56:44-04:00

The structures around Naoshima are super-hi-tech, 23rd-century constructions of grey reinforced concrete, with every next-generation innovation; but they take you back to the principles of spareness, simplicity and concentration that graced the haiku, brush-and-ink paintings and Noh dramas of old.

The "art island" of Naoshima is dotted with calming concrete installations a world away from Tokyo's frenetic pace. Pico Iyer stayed at the hotel Benesse House designed by Tadao Ando and enjoyed moments of tranquility and museum peace.

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Tadao Ando's Naoshima New Museum of Art to open in early 2025

Pico Iyer visits Japan's Naoshima island