Though embedded in a mammoth, mixed-use development, the comparatively modest 50,590-square-foot Suntory Museum of Art confidently stands its ground. The product of architect Kengo Kuma, the Suntory does not need signage or street access to assert itself. Instead, its articulated, exterior massing, clad with elegant, ceramic fins, deftly distinguishes the museum from Tokyo Midtown’s looming, terra-cotta-covered towers.
From the outside, the museum’s protruding form practically reads as an independent entity. But its interiors are fully integrated with Midtown’s multistoried shopping concourse: Visitors enter the museum on the mall’s third floor, at the northwest corner, where they find the gift shop, café, and elevators. However, the prescribed route for viewing the private collection actually begins on the fourth floor, where museumgoers arrive at a dimly lit gallery to view the works amassed by Suntory Limited, one of Japan’s largest liquor producers. The museum’s 3,000 historic objects include paintings, textiles, ceramics, and lacquer, with some designated “Important Cultural Property,” and a couple “National Treasure.”
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