The newly expanded Toyota City Museum, designed by Shigeru Ban Architects, has opened in the heart of Toyota City, Japan. Strategically located on the east side of its site, adjacent to the existing museum, the latest addition exists harmoniously with the site and creates a unified museum zone with the neighboring facility. Initially designated as an independent plot, the architects seized the opportunity to integrate the new museum with the Toyota City Art Museum, creating a single, expansive museum zone.
The western side of the grounds is designed as a shared landscape, linking the Toyota City Museum and the Toyota City Art Museum to form an accessible, integrated cultural site. Situated five meters above ground level, the Toyota City Museum is designed to connect with the Toyota City Art Museum by incorporating an ‘interstitial space’, which serves to physically bridge the two sites and foster a sense of continuity between them. The space also serves as a transitional point, enhancing accessibility and making both buildings feel part of a cohesive museum zone.
Commenting on the overall design of the project, Shigeru Ban, Founder, Shigeru Ban Architects, said: “I wondered if the two sites could be made into a single museum zone, and by deliberately locating the new museum in the optimal position relative to the art museum, I could make it easier for visitors to understand and visit the two facilities and thus produce a synergistic effect.”
According to the architects, the museum’s design draws inspiration from Toyota City’s emblem, integrating symbolic elements into its architectural features. The wooden roof features a skylight that casts an emblem-like shadow providing a visual connection to the city’s identity. Moreover, a prominent 90-meter (295-foot)-long glazed wooden structure, known as the ‘En-nichi’ area, serves as the museum’s heart and is designed for exhibitions, gatherings, and community events, creating a flexible space for public engagement.
“If the art museum by Yoshio Taniguchi is a masterpiece of modernist architecture that makes abundant use of metal and glass and represents the latter half of the twentieth century, then the Toyota City Museum is its polar opposite – a work with an organic facade and space in which wood is used in abundance so that it contributes to the solving of the problem of the environment, the most important theme of the twenty-first century,” added Ban.
Whilst the Toyota City Art Museum represents a refined pinnacle of modern architecture, the Toyota City Museum is planned as a sustainable architecture addressing the important theme of the 21st century. The interstitial space, occupying one-fifth of the entire area, is constructed with wooden architecture using cedar wood from Toyota City, aiming to reduce CO2 emissions during construction. Additionally, it is the first museum facility to receive ZEB Ready certification.
Through this project, the architects aimed to bring sustainable building practices to the forefront, emphasizing environmental stewardship as a central design principle. As such, the Toyota City Museum is made with local cedar material, both for structural and aesthetic uses. The architects have also designed a wooden roof to combine two museums under the same structure to make the area look like a museum complex. This area definition allows visitors to recognize that both museums are present and welcoming to guests and provide access to travel between them.
Furthermore, in the event of a disaster, a disaster response headquarters can be established in the museum, making it a building that is not only environmentally friendly and energy-efficient but also resilient to disasters. This disaster response center aims to provide a safe location for emergency operations during natural calamities. This multi-functional aspect ensures the museum serves both cultural and practical community needs, underscoring its role as a facility that supports its city in all circumstances.
According to the architects, the museum is nestled into the landscape, stepping up to connect its second level to the ground floor of the adjacent art museum. US studio PWP Landscape Architecture, which designed the landscaping for the existing art museum, removed a line of trees separating the two sides of the site to create a continuous garden space between them.
“The superb landscape designed by PWP Landscape Architecture continuing from the art museum to the city museum binds together two buildings, representing different periods and styles that cover over thirty years of time – an art museum of supreme stillness in appearance and a museum that is the source of diverse public activities,” concluded Ban.
