Omishima Island has become one of the most interesting cultural centers of the Land of the Rising Sun over the past few decades, uniting the Museum of Calligraphy, the Omishima Art Museum, and the Tokoro Museum in its vicinity. Here, on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, there is a unique complex of art galleries – the Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture. This is the first museum in Japan dedicated to the work of a single architect.

Museum of Architecture Toyo Ito: Multifaceted work of art

In 2011, an unusual building appeared in Ehime Prefecture, the author of which is the famous Japanese architect Toyo Ito. Thanks to boundless creativity, the master connected the physical, virtual and real worlds. The design of the Museum of Architecture Toyo Ito is based on regular and irregular geometric shapes: octahedron, tetrahedron and cuboctahedron. These polyhedrons contrast surprisingly with the natural landscape in the area.

Multifaceted halls

The museum complex consists of two buildings, which, according to the author’s idea, are called “huts”. The “Steel Hut” is a bulky and geometrically complex building that houses the main exhibition halls, lecture hall, storage room, and main lobby. The Silver Hut is a group of arched buildings that houses the personal home of Toyo Ito, who was moved from Tokyo. The architect’s house also features exhibition spaces, classrooms, auditoriums, a library and a small cinema hall.

Audience

The halls of the buildings contain a variety of architectural exhibits, including books, amazing 3D models of buildings from almost all over the country, and about 90 drawings by Ito. The appearance of the Museum of Architecture in Japan resembles the deck of a ship, and the similarity is not accidental, since the first exhibit of the gallery is called “worthy vessel”. And the location on the coast of Seto gives even greater proximity. Architectural models of the marine theme have been impressing viewers for several years now.

How to get to the museum?

From Kyoto to the architectural landmark, it is best to go by car. The fastest route is the Sanyo Expressway. The road without traffic jams takes about 4.5 hours. From Tokyo, the journey by car will be quite tiring, about 10 hours. There is an alternative option: the island can be reached by air, first to Hiroshima Airport, and from there by taxi to the Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture can be reached in about 2 hours.