See “The National Museum of Western Art” as architecture.
Hello! I’m Yuki Tanaka.
I will introduce a museum, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in July 2016, by focusing on architecture.
When it comes to “architecture” it is often thought as a field, which you have to make difficult face and think with your arms crossed. I hope I can tell architecture not complicatedly but intelligibly.
It is my pleasure if my introduction of architecture leads to the encounters with wonderful buildings or new discoveries.
In Ueno, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art is located in Ueno Park where there are many cultural facilities such as museums and zoo.
The National Museum of Western Art is one of the only 5 “National” art museums in Japan. It is standing since it opened in 1959 by remaining the original figure as much as possible while repeated construction to cope with its extension and an earthquake.
The shape of the main building is as if floating a cube-shaped box with pillars. It has light greenish wall and although it is not gorgeous, there is a presence that makes you feel the time that it has gone through.
The National Museum of Western Art was officially inscribed on World Cultural Heritage List after 9 years efforts in July 2016.
Many of World Cultural Heritages are historical shrine, temple and building that supported the development of industry. It can be said that the registry as a building handling art is rare.
Why was this art museum registered as a World Heritage?
For one of the reasons, there is an architect who designed this museum and its story.
Before introducing about the building, let me talk about a person who took part in the design of The National Museum of Western Art.
An Architect, Le Corbusier and The National Museum of Western Art
An architect, Le Corbusier.
The architect whose real name, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, was born in Switzerland in 1887 and aimed to be a clock smith. However, he gave up to be a clock smith since he suffered from amblyopia and started to study architecture.
Le Corbusier introduced new trials to his architecture one after another and the architectural techniques from those trials had a strong impact on architects all over the world.
Profile with round thick black–framed glasses. The appearance that many obsessiveness seep out. With his sensibility and talent that even comes out to his appearance, Le Corbusier left buildings that can be said as artwork all over the world.
Not only building.
He was also a person who provides information. In other words, he can be described as a person of media. Beside his architectural job, he wrote about 50 books, edited magazines by himself and kept providing his opinion to the world.
Many of his thinking offered new sense of value, and some of them even became a base that supports modern architecture.
He used the pen name “Le Corbusier” when he provided information.
“Corbeau” has a meaning of ”crow”. This pen name was used since his profile makes us feel sharpness like a crow. It became popular to be called with the impressive name and started to attract attention around the world as “Le Corbusier”.
On one occasion, a museum handling collection of French Western Art was to be built in Japan. Le Corbusier was chosen as a designer for the museum who was active in France at the time.
Even though he was at the age of 68 when he was requested to design, he agreed on building a museum in a faraway foreign country.
In the background, there was a plan for museum that he wanted to realize for a long time and there were pupils who he trusts in Japan.
3 of his pupils, Kunio Maekawa, Junzo Sakakura and Takamasa Yoshizaka, trained under Le Corbusier and went back to Japan.
Based on the design by Le Corbusier, 3 pupils did the detailed design, which is necessary for construction.
Then, The National Museum of Western Art was completed by the master and pupils.
After 50 years of completion, the activity of registering architecture of Le Corbusier to World Heritage has started. As one of the activities, the only architecture of Le Corbusier in Japan, The National Museum of Western Art became the object and after the efforts, it was registered as a World Heritage.
It has become a bit long, but now, let’s look at the architecture.
The National Museum of Western Art seen from outside
The surface of the building is covered with many green panels.
The panel is paved with greenish boulders and it is harden by mortar, which is concrete raw material. These panels are covering the surface of the building.
Light green on sunny day is also nice but when it rains, the stones get wet and the green gets dark.
It is its characteristic of the appearance that the whole atmospheres of the building change like this.
If you walk towards the entrance, there is a space called “Pilotis” where building is floated by pillars.
Today, Pilotis is used as parking space and corridor of house. Although it is a general technique for now, Le Corbusier was the first person that proposed this architectural style “Pilotis”.
Le Corbusier formed what no one put into practice and put into words what everyone did with sensation.
Let’s look down from Pilotis and focus on the floor.
There is a joint between the square in front of the building and the building.
This is due to “Isolation Seismic Retrofit” work done in the past.
The standards of buildings were revised after Han-Shin Awaji Earthquake disaster, and countermeasures against earthquake were also required to this museum. As countermeasures against earthquake, there is “earthquake resistance construction”, which strengthen the building itself by making the pillars thick and adding the walls. It is simple and easy to understand, but there is downside of changing the appearance of the building.
Therefore, “Isolation Seismic Retrofit” work was introduced to The National Museum of Western Art.
What is “Isolation Seismic Retrofit” work?
What kind of method is it?
I will explain with this model, which is looking the section of lengthwise cut building from side.
First, float the building from the ground that earthquake countermeasure needs to be taken. It is the middle part in the model.
You can see that the part has a gap with the ground under the ground.
Then, put hard rubber foundation in the floated part. The rubber foundation is columnar with a diameter of about 60 centimeters.
Preparing 49 rubber foundations. Install those under the building and float the building from the ground by supporting with rubber foundations. With this method, the energy of swing by earthquake will reduce with rubbers before reaching the building. As a result, the swing that transmits to the building will become small.
This is the image and effect of “Isolation Seismic Retrofit” work introduced to The National Museum of Western Art.
The building floated by rubbers installed for “Isolation Seismic Retrofit” work.
Therefore, the joint on ground appears in the ▼ part.
The joint is the one you saw on photo earlier.
“Isolation Seismic Retrofit” work, which strengthen the building against earthquake without changing the shape of the building.
Where we can see the traces. That is, this joint on the ground.
Now, we step over this joint and enter the museum.
Center of the main building, the Nineteenth Century Hall
We are in the main building of the museum. In this space, which is the beginning of permanent exhibition room, unpredictable high ceiling overwhelm us.
This hall, which is called “Nineteenth Century Hall”, is located in the center of a square building.
For the National Museum of Western Art, I recommend you to wake up a little bit early and visit on opening hour on a holiday on weekdays.
In a place where the space itself can be described as an artwork, you can enjoy the spacious space and the quiet time.
Natural light shines from triangle skylight, and you can feel quiet as if you entered into a church.
You can move on to the next exhibition room by using the slope from the Nineteenth Century Hall.
The slope with the side, which the material of the floor stood up as it is, itself looks like a sculpture.
Slopes gently connect between the spaces. During the move on slopes, since there are no steps like stairs, it is possible to experience the change of the surrounding scenery without interrupt.
It was Le Corbusier who expressed and put this kind of rich experience along the movement into words as “Architectural Promenade”.
Le Corbusier considered very carefully about move of people.
The changing scenery while walking the slope and the Nineteenth Century Hall from above is also wonderful. Please visit and enjoy here.
Permanent exhibition room drawing spiral shape
The National Museum of Western Art is consisted of permanent exhibition room surrounding the Nineteenth Century Hall in the center.
It is like snail that draws and spreads in spiral shape from the central part to the outside.
This structure that reminds us of snail was Le Corbusier’s long-planned plan of the museum.
As time goes by, various culture come up and expanse of the world keeps changing. As a museum to deal with the expanse of the world, it was planned like snail that spread in spiral shape from the central part to the outside.
As long as the ground floor space allow, it is possible to make the museum larger by adding the spirals along the increase of artworks. It is a museum that grows along the expansion of the artistic culture.
This plan, which is called “Unlimited Growth Museums”, is introduced to The National Museum of Western Art. As a result, the structure of the exhibition room is spirally extended from the Nineteenth Century Hall.
This plan was what Le Corbusier wanted to put into practice from before.
Unfortunately, making the museum larger by adding the spirals have not put into practice.
However, Le Corbusier’s way of thinking surely remains in the structure of the building and it is said that there are only 3 museums, which put “Unlimited Growth Museums” plan into practice through out the world.
The National Museum of Western Art is the one of them.
If you look up in the exhibition room of the main building, windows are lining horizontally.
These windows were originally transparent and natural light used to come into the exhibition room.
Now, natural light will not come in from here. It is because the sunlight damages the exhibited works.
Le Corbusier was an architect who also faced carefully to the light that shines into the building. These windows set in The National Museum of Western Art had a role of changing brightness in the exhibition room as time flows by taking natural light in.
However, we cannot ignore the degradation of art works. Although it is going put a lid on Le Corbusier’s thought, there is a gimmick to block the light on these windows now.
When walking the spiral shaped exhibition room of the main building, stairs will appear.
The stairs, which connect the third floor mezzanine, stand in the exhibition room while showing the straight lined handrail and the section of the stairs.
Unfortunately, since the handrail is set only on one side, in consideration of danger, this stairs is no longer in use. However, please pay attention to the stairs.
The restaurant faced to the courtyard
Please visit the restaurant in the 1st floor after enjoying the exhibition.
You can enjoy a meal while watching the courtyard at the restaurant in the museum “Café Suiren”.
The courtyard is wonderful, but the beef curry that you can have here is even more recommended.
Curry and rice in museums is somewhat delicious. I personally call this rule as “Museum curry absolute rule” and it also applies to The National Museum of Western Art.
This beef curry has a lot of beef that breaks into small pieces when you put it in your mouth and the onions are brilliantly remaining the shape in the roux. The level of this museum curry is quite high in Japan. Please try it.
After satisfying appetite, to the rest area in the underground.
Here, you can see the isolation device that protects the building from earthquake from the small window on the wall. Exactly, you can see the actual rubber foundation.
Please see the scenery from the small window with your eyes.
When focusing on architecture, I think the best artwork in this museum is the isolation device that you can see from this small window.
The only one in Japan.
The only architecture that an architect, Le Corbusier left in Japan is still keep standing in Ueno Park.
Across from The National Museum of Western Art, there is a building called “Tokyo Bunka Kaikan”. The design is by Le Corbusier’s pupil, an architect, Kunio Maekawa.
The only building that Le Corbusier left in Japan is still standing while facing the building, which his pupil designed.
In this park with many people, the history made by the great architect and the story of master-and-pupil relationship over the building was secretly continuing.
<References>
Le Corbusier ル・コルビュジエ. (1967). 建築をめざして. Kajima Institute Publishing 鹿島出版会.
Shuji Takashina＋Hiroyuki Suzuki＋Riichi Miyake＋Yasuto Ota高階秀爾＋鈴木博之＋三宅理一＋太田泰人. (1999). ル・コルビュジエと日本. Kajima Institute Publishing 鹿島出版会.
Takemi Kuresawa 暮沢剛巳 (2009). ル・コルビュジエー近代建築を広報した男. Asahi Shimbun Publications 朝日新聞出版.
Tadayoshi Fujiki 藤木忠善. (2011). ル・コルビュジエの国立西洋美術館. Kajima Institute Publishing 鹿島出版会.
【Information】
The National Museum of Western Art
Address: 7–7 Uenokouen, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Website: http://www.nmwa.go.jp/
