Two museums in Karuizawa

I wrote about my trip climbing Mt.Asama in a previous article, on the same trip I went to two museums.

One was the  Hiroshi Senju  Museum Karuizawa designed by Japan's leading architect Ryue Nishizawa in 2011 and the other was the Koyama Keizou Museum of Art designed by one of Japan's Modern Masters Togo Murano in 1975. These two museums are separated by over 30 years, but I felt those two museums have very similar ideas. If it was a family, Koyama Keizou Muzeum of Art would be the father of Hiroshi Senju  Museum Karuizawa.

Ryue Nishizawa said:

"I wanted to create a union of a park and space that felt as inviting as a private living room."

I  felt what he said was almost realized in the  Hiroshi Senju  Museum Karuizaw. I  had never visited such a museum before. When I entered the museum I saw a very strange scene. What I saw was that many pictures of waterfalls were laid out at random on a sloped floor. At the same time I  saw alot of greenery in an inner court. The scene was completely different from other museums. I felt the space was not a museum but a park instead. I  walked down along  the angled floor and saw waterfall pictures. I felt like I was a part of flowing water.

 Walking down in the museum, you will reach the bottom. At the bottom, the ceiling was lower than at other points and the end of the floor was rolled back.I guess Mr. Nishizawa attempted to design museum's bottom floor as a place naturally to stop and go back.

After I had the feeling of being water, I felt that I now became a deer.

When you turn back, you will find pictures not about waterfalls but about deer. A series of deer pictures were behind the waterfall pictures that express a story that deer explore from deep forest to downtowns. So, you will go back up with the deer's story.

In many cases, museum and their exhibition have no relationships, but Hiroshi Senju  Museum Karuizawa has strong relationship. I cannot think of Hiroshi Senju's art without this museum, and when I think about this museum, I always remember his art.

This is just my personal opinion,but I feel that Ryue Nishizawa doesn't  like architecture in some aspects.  I guess for many archtects, first step of their design process is to decid the overall form and exterior image. But I guess his process is different. He has some ideal image of people`s behavior or actions, and he attempt to realize those behaviors by minimizing architecture.

After visiting the  Hiroshi Senju  Museum Karuizawa, I visited the Koyama Keizou Muzeum of Art. I felt the idea of flow line was common among these two museums.The Koyama Keizou Muzeum of Art's floor was also sloped and the walls were not straight. If I ever get the chance, I would like to ask Mr. Nishizawa what do you think about  the Koyama Keizou Muzeum of Art.