Chichu Art Museum | Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

The Chichu Art Museum (literally ‘art museum in the earth’) is a museum built directly into a southern portion of the island of Naoshima in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. It was designed by architect Tadao Ando and opened to the public on July 18, 2004

The subterranean museum is under the administration of the Fukutake Foundation, a project of the Benesse Corporation whose president Soichiro Fukutake also acts as director of the facility. It exists as part of an ongoing initiative to “rethink the relationship between nature and people,” and is one of several arts-related sites generating tourist interest in the area.

Despite its position buried underground, the design of the building is such that it facilitates the exclusive use of natural light to illuminate a number of the exhibits, changing their appearance at different viewing times throughout the day and, in essence, encompassing the building itself within the same realm as the art on display.