Akka Gallery Osaka

Tadao Ando – AKKA Gallery, Osaka Japan, 1988

Tadao Ando's ingenious design for the Akka Art Gallery shows that Japanese architects are better suited to making necessity necessary. The narrow site of 8 m wide and 40 m deep required an unconventional solution. The five-story space is traversed by a curved wall with a radius of 28 m and stairs running on either side. Although the compositional framework is simple and austere, the labyrinth of circulation routes, stairs, landings, ramps, balconies and galleries is a highly complex spatial experience.