SANAA in Kanazawa: A Museum With No Back Door
The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art is a glass circle that welcomes the city in from every side.
White curving walls of a minimalist museum around a lawn. Photo: Pexels
Most museums have a front and a back: a grand entrance for visitors and a loading dock hidden around the corner. The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA and opened in 2004, refuses the distinction. It is a low glass circle that can be entered from several directions.
At a glance
- Architects
- SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa)
- Location
- Kanazawa, Ishikawa
- Opened
- 2004
- Plan
- Circular, about 112 m in diameter
Inside, galleries of different sizes and heights are scattered like boxes within the round plan, separated by public corridors and light courts. Some areas require tickets; others are free and open to anyone passing through. The building behaves more like a park than a treasure house.
Lightness as a principle
SANAA's architecture is known for its thin roofs, slender columns and white or transparent surfaces. In Kanazawa, the effect is of a building that barely touches the ground, letting the surrounding lawns and the city flow around and through it.
The museum does not ask you to enter. It simply lets you drift in.
SANAA received the Pritzker Prize in 2010. In Kanazawa, a city better known for its Edo-period gardens and samurai districts, the museum has become a modern landmark that is used daily by residents, not only by tourists.
