Tokyo National Museum Hyokeikan, Renovation

Hyokeikan was built in 1909 (the 42nd year of the Meiji era) to commemorate the wedding of the next Emperor, Taisho. This building, designed by Tokuma Katayama, is the leading example of Western-style architecture at the end of the Meiji era. It was designated an important cultural property in 1978. This remodeling project design added an elevator linking the first and second floors, as a barrier free measure, facilitating movement to the second floor for people with restricted mobility, without damaging the load-bearing brick structure of this important cultural property that survived the Great Kanto Earthquake. We also added multi-purpose toilets. The objectives of this series of remodeling projects which we worked on, including the Toyokan and Kuroda Memorial Hall, included ensuring seismic resistance, better serving more diverse users, and improving the performance of the exhibition spaces that convey the appeal of cultural treasures. We achieved those objectives through a dialog between the accumulated history and architectural fruits of the Tokyo National Museum and the latest modern technologies.