The museum will exhibit selected contemporary art pieces from UESHIMA COLLECTION, a collection of over 650 works by a wide range of domestic and international artists based on the theme of "contemporaneity" and aligned with various themes.

Throughout the design process, we discussed with Kankuro Ueshima how best to reimagine a building originally constructed to house The British School in Tokyo as a museum of contemporary art, creating a functional space that can accommodate contemporary art and projects in all their diversity in order to provide viewers with a rich experience of the works. We drew constant inspiration from the limitations of the existing architecture and the energy of the works in the collection.

Responding to Mr. Ueshima ’s desire to energize the entire art scene by getting people to gather and interact, we turned the old school gymnasium into a hall where large artworks can be exhibited and events or lectures can be held.

We were careful to create exhibition spaces suited to the particularities of the diverse collection. Aside from the gymnasium, we turned a passageway between buildings into a long, narrow room suited to video works; we placed mirrors in the former nurse’s office to enhance the experience of light-based works; and filled yet another room with light to illuminate the artworks.

Everything from the basement to the sixth floor has been redesigned as a museum. The top floor houses a tea room and conference room, where guests are welcomed and educated through art. The former principal’s office has become a tea room with a beautiful garden view; we plan to host proper tea ceremonies here. The third, fourth, and fifth floors are home to some of the museum’s exhibition rooms but have also been designed to house offices. These workspaces symbolize the fact that, for Mr. Ueshima, work and art are inseparable.

The museum’s entrance is shared with the offices, such that visitors to the offices are greeted by artworks. The basement contains a large hall, showing the importance we place on the human interactions that art facilitates.

The exhibition spaces vary widely in character from one floor to the next. The basement is one large room, the ground floor features a circuit through a few rooms, and the second floor contains a partitioned exhibition space arranged around a large number of individual rooms.

Mr. Ueshima’s novel ideas have combined with Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen to create a fusion of art and education. We designed the façade to symbolize this change.

Around the building’s roadside entrance, we added a translucent metal mesh that runs to roughly head height. The idea is that the gentle curves lead people to the entrance. Once the sun sets, light is emitted from within, illuminating the street. The face of the museum was created in as non-invasive a way as possible when compared with the overall size of the Gakuen school campus; it discreetly conveys the museum’s existence to the Shibuya area, while harmonizing with the campus.

This façade looks different depending on when, from how far, and from what angle you look at it. This aligns with the way art is by nature open to multiple interpretations.

The combination of a museum and offices in one place complicates security, and people are usually channeled through separate entrances and corridors. Besides, as the fusion of art and education develops, young students will start coming to the museum. We have installed the latest network security system, allowing the museum and office spaces to coexist.

The security in the exhibition rooms and offices on each floor can be customized via a QR code that is issued in advance.