“Simose” Art and Residential Complex

In Japan, natural beauty and historic landmarks are loved to death. Tourists mob Mount Fuji and other celebrated landmarks, lining up to take selfies, before getting back on their bus. Simose, a complex of art museum, rentable villas and resort facilities overlooking the picturesque Inland Sea, is more selective. To book one of the ten villas, you are required to sign a multi-page contract, promising not to smoke or behave badly and attesting that you have no links to criminal gangs.

The venture was presumably inspired by the success of Naoshima, an island in the Inland Sea that was taken over by Benesse Holdings to display its founder’s art collection in a museum designed by Tadao Ando, who added an exclusive hotel and restaurant for guests who wanted to extend their stay. Naoshima’s fame has spread and the facilities have been greatly extended. Simose is named for the family that own the Marui Sangyo corporation, and it features their eclectic trove of Western art, Art Nouveau glass and Japanese dolls. It could easily have turned out to be a vanity project of strictly local interest, but for the architecture of Shigeru Ban.

In his four decades of practice, Ban has displayed unflagging invention allied to a deep respect for humanity and the environment. He has salvaged cardboard tubes to create soaring vaults and temporary shelter for victims of natural disasters, revealing the structural potential of this material. No-one has employed wood to greater advantage or played so many daring variations on living spaces. Simose offers an anthology of his past work and some experimentation that looks to the future.

The most conspicuous of these innovations are the eight galleries, which appear to float in a reflecting pool, evoking the rocky islands in the sea beyond. These white cubes are ten meters square, clad in colored glass, and linked by covered bridges. Each is mounted on a barge-like foundation, constructed in a...

Proceed with your preferred purchase option to continue reading

Digital

5.49 €

Add to cart

Printed

15.00 €

Add to cart

Subscription

From 42.00 €

Choose subscription