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CURATED ATLAS FOR CONTEMPORARY DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE
(Naha, Okinawa, Japan)(Architecture)(Architecture Directory)2023-07-31

Naha Prefectural Museum

With an appearance borrowed from ancient Okinawan fortresses (gusuku), the Naha Prefectural Museum is simultaneously futuristic with gentle curves, rectilinear geometry and stacked forms.

Naha Prefectural Museum in Okinawa by Ishimoto and Niki Architects | 2007 Photos by Paul Tulett ©
Naha Prefectural Museum in Okinawa by Ishimoto and Niki Architects | 2007 Photos by Paul Tulett ©

A joint venture between Ishimoto and Niki design houses, the Naha Prefectural Museum appears as both a cascading, multi-tiered limestone waterfall and an immovable monolith – the result of a geological phenomenon aeons ago. A large footprint coupled with steeply slanted precast sides render it strangely squat yet soaring. Its appearance borrows from ancient Okinawan fortresses (gusuku) yet is simultaneously futuristic with gentle curves, rectilinear geometry and stacked forms.

Naha Prefectural Museum in Okinawa by Ishimoto and Niki Architects | 2007 Photos by Paul Tulett ©
Naha Prefectural Museum in Okinawa by Ishimoto and Niki Architects | 2007 Photos by Paul Tulett ©
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