Located in Teshima, an old port town on an island in Seto Inland Sea, Teshima Yokoo House is an art museum in community in which most of the people are elderly. The museum features work by Tadanori Yokoo, an internationally renowned figure in art. It opened in the summer of 2013, aligning with the start of the Setouchi Triennnale 2013.
The museum is composed of three of one-story old Japanese houses; we repurposed, renovated, and added extensions to the original houses. The museum aims to evoke Yokoo's work in the architecture itself; to achieve this, we considered how to translate the ideas of his art from two dimensions to three. Like his collages, scenes and experiences inside the museum are amplified and collaged by the effect of screens, the motion of visitors and the natural daylight. The exact same scene will never be encountered twice; Teshima Yokoo house will be constantly changing. At the request of our client, we also focused on ensuring that this place plays a role in invigorating the elderly people of Teshima. We made great attempts to to share the process and experience with them and inform them of the museum's purpose and its place in their lives. For example, we held rice cake-making festival, and we demonstrated the construction process. We also invited residents to assist in making crushed tile to cover the bottom of the pond in the garden.
Yokoo explores the unavoidable theme of life and death in his work, and this carries over to the museum design; it is literally able to hold funeral. But we also hope this is going to be a hub for the locals, bringing new life and energy to them and the community. The juxtaposition between these two premises inspired our design for the route between the inside and outside of the space. Within the traditional Japanese wooden house, we amplified both the image of Yokoo's works and the scenery of the garden by using black, transparent glasses and mirrors. The red glass, set within the monochromatic design, represents the boundary between “life and death” or “ordinary and extraordinary." Yokoo uses the color red as an symbol for life, which is reflected by the red garden stones encountered by visitors before entering the museum. Though the garden looks gloomy in the view from the main house (seen through several colored panes of glass), after visitors pass through the main house, they encounter the garden in its original color. Above the river that flows under the main floor, visitors are confronted by Yokoo's large triptych, The Primitive Universe. This work is reflected in the black glass of the floor, and overwhelms visitors' experience of the space.
……………………………………………….
Photography by Daichi Ano and Nobutada Omote.
View Original