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 best suited to making necessity necessary. The cramped site of 8m wide and 40m deep required an unconventional solution. The five-story space is crossed by a curved wall with a radius of 28 m and stairs that run on both sides. Although the compositional framework is simple and austere, the labyrinth of traffic routes, stairs, landings, ramps, balconies and galleries is a very complex spatial experience.