Suntory Museum

Tadao Ando Architect and Associates – Museum, IMAX 3D Cinema, Restaurant – Osaka Japan, 1994

The Suntory Museum and Cultural Centre includes an art and design gallery, a 3D IMAX cinema, numerous shops and a restaurant.
The complex as a whole can be considered one of Tadao Ando's best projects in which he aims to solve the problem of the relationship between man, water and architecture.

The museum overlooks the sea through various terraces, ramps and stairs, all to get closer and establish contact with the water.
Near the water there are five monumental pillars that are then repeated in smaller sizes also in the barrier in front, reinforcing the sense of continuity between the square and the ocean.
The building consists of an inverted truncated cone intersected by two volumes with different angles. The cone has a large glass window that allows a wide view of the ocean, the theater is inside a large concrete sphere.
The building materials are steel, glass and concrete.
The large truncated cone has a reticular structure while the other structural parts were made with pre-stressed reinforced concrete.