Ando Museum — Attraction in Naoshima

One of my personal beliefs is the importance of art and culture, and the need for them to be available and accessible to as many people as possible.

This museum confirms that while Ando is a great artist, he’s an immoral architect. Someone with his depth of knowledge and experience knows when he is designing spaces that are unsuitable for the young, the elderly, or people with physical impairments. The artist in him conceives the spaces but the architect in him lacks the talent to realise them in an ethical way.

Great architects understand constraints such as accessibility, and they use them to drive design responses that add to the value of the structure and improve the design.

Ando does not.

Please consider the accessibility of this museum as you visit - and understand that the limitations of this museum are replicated in his other works.

Whether it’s stairs without handrails, poor colour contrasts, stairs without alternative access paths, appropriate lighting to ensure contrast, the list of his design short comings is extensive.

In the extreme example of the Lee Ufan Museum, people have to walk down stairs and across gravel - without alternatives.

I could excuse this if he was just making this choice to exclude people from the art he created - but he deliberately excludes people from accessing the art created by others displayed in the spaces he has defined.

Ando’s design morals and ethics are dubious and this venue shows this perfectly - with staircases without handrails and stairs that are uncapped. His choice to expose people to danger even in the museum that honours him shows his immorality and choices to wimp out rather than rise to the challenge of accessibility chooses to ignore it.

I don’t think it’s overstating to say that Ando is cruel - whether conscious or unconscious is something for the visitor to this museum to decide - but I think it’s clear he does everything...

A place where you can experience Tadao Ando's architecture up close, emphasizing the use of natural light and the simplicity of exposed concrete. Inside, there are models that compressively showcase Tadao Ando's architectural philosophy and his notable works, including the Church of Light. Moreover, as you enter the smooth-textured exposed concrete walls and descend into the dark underground, when you raise your head and look at the ceiling, which was once the floor, you can feel like you've entered a warm architectural space where the sunlight of Naoshima...

Be surprised. Upon entering this century old house, the interior is transformed with a complementary concept, to co-exist - old & new, old wood & concrete, light & shadow. Probably the better time is to visit when the sun is low, as sunlight streams through the slits of the house to provide varying spatial experience. Within, there are showcases of various sketches and photographs of the Ando's projects. Autographed copies of his book on Naoshima are available here. Note that no photography is allowed...