The project acts as a boundary between ancient and modern, between visible and invisible, between tradition and modernity, between old and new.

Via the metamaterial (see recent studies from all over the world) which permits conditions of invisibility of space, we can consider traditional, Japanese architecture as an archeological site and an important historic memory for the country, whereas the museum space inside is considered a temple to the new, Japanese, pop culture.

The outside of the museum is history, it is memory. Inside is the space for the most advanced modernity. The metamaterial turns out to resemble a panel covered in film, a very fine membrane. It covers part of the museum right up to a height of one and a half metres above ground and ensures the building, which is a large wooden base, remains visible at this height. The rest is pure invisibility. In the inside space, everything is in movement by using the system of sliding mobile panels, which enable flexible spaces to be obtained as required.  On the ground floor is the forum-hall and exhibition area, an office with an independent entrance, a library and a large courtyard, through which the level placed at a height of -4.0 compared to the ground line can be observed. The courtyard is a Zen garden, around which stand a bar, an area for conferences and some laboratories.  Lastly, the second level of the museum, which is actually invisible from the outside, holds an IT suite, other spaces used by the library and four large classrooms.

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Year:2016

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Architect: Anna Rita Emili

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Collaborator: Giovanni Rocco Cellini, Laura Spalletta, Luigi Terribile, Ivan Zito

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