Tokyo National Museum Kuroda Memorial Hall, Renovation

The Kuroda Memorial Hall of Tokyo National Museum was built in response to the bequest to the nation of the property and works of Seiki Kuroda (1866-1924), the father of modern Japanese painting. It was designed by the architect Shinichiro Okada and completed in 1928. In designing the seismic resistance reinforcement and remodeling of this building, which is a registered cultural property, we adopted the theme of “Carry on the intentions of the original designer and pass them on to the next generation, while enhancing the performance and functionality of the spaces, to remodel the building into a place for spending time with comfort and peace of mind.” We basically carried on the characteristic exterior and spatial design without change, and concentrated seismic reinforcements in places where they would not be seen by visitors. For the exhibition room in particular, we learned from the remodeling of the Musée d’Orsay by adding display walls within the existing spaces of the special exhibit rooms with chromatic color density suitable to beautifully display the artist’s representative works, such as “Lakeside” and “Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment.” Kuroda Memorial Hall carries on the design with which it was originally built. To maintain a stable interior temperature and humidity environment, we added internal insulation to the extent that would not affect the design of the exterior walls, and added inner sashes to openings in those walls, to prevent condensation and the entry of outside air. We replaced the air conditioning of the exhibition spaces with a high-efficiency system, to save energy while producing an environment of constant temperature and humidity. We remodeled for barrier free access, with a route allowing unassisted wheelchair access to all zones via newly-added wheelchair lifts and elevators, as well as applying universal design to toilets in the building. We added a pleasant new cafe space with an open terrace, and used zoning that allows the cafe to be used independently even on days when the rest of the building is closed, in order to make the building a facility that is more open to the local environment and community.