Kengo Kuma & Associates This multipurpose complex is located in Tokorozawa on the Musashino plateau, a rare landform created by the collision of four crustal plates. It integrates a digital printing factory, a computer-controlled logistics warehouse, offices, an art gallery, a library, a museum, an anime-themed hotel, and anime culture in an organic and cross-sectoral manner.
The museum, appearing as if thrust up through the plateau, is composed of 20,000 slabs of black and white granite, each 70mm thick. The joints of the stones were intentionally misaligned rather than fitted convex to concave, so that each slab seems to pierce the ground independently. Thiscreates a sense of lightness, making the massive structure appear as though floating.
Inside, the vast space was designed as a futuristic labyrinth, transcending conventional binaries by blending high culture such as contemporary art with subcultures such as anime. Bookshelves of structural plywood resemble haze in the sky, connecting genres and x-objects in three dimensions like a network of brain cells.
In the production and office areas, large stone seats harmonize with the rough textures of the stone. Surrounding the Musashino Reiwa Shrine, an aluminum expanded metal fence encloses forms where wave-like shapes coexist with traditional gabled roofs. Decorative elements symbolizing both female and male deities are juxtaposed and interwoven, proposing a new cultural venue for the age of the coronavirus―a place that surpasses the framework of traditional regional cultural facilities.

Kengo Kuma & Associates