Architectural Museum in Omishima by Toyo Ito

On the Japanese island of Omishima, a museum by Toyo Ito has been created, showcasing the projects of this Japanese creator. The Toyo Ito Architectural Museum (TIMA - Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture) is located on the southwestern coast of the island. The sculpturally shaped mass was originally intended to serve as an extension of the Tokoto Omishima museum, but during the construction, the client wished to change the purpose of the two- to three-story building to that of an architecture museum. Children should have a better understanding of architecture here. The black 'steel hat' lies right next to another Ito building: the family house 'Silver Hat' from 1984. This house, with its rounded aluminum roof, originally stood in Tokyo but was later relocated to the remote island. While the steel hat serves for exhibitions, the silver hat contains classrooms for workshops. The black tower consists of a total of four polyhedra creating an abstract platform. Ito chose this complicated form to create a contrasting object to the surrounding hilly coastal landscape. With this step, he made the design and subsequent realization more difficult: the length of the edges of the polyhedron is three meters, and in places where two polyhedra meet, the sloping walls and floors must adapt in width. Ultimately, this complicated interior space had to be adapted to the needs of the museum.

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