photos: Jean Snow

21_21 Design Sight, Tokyo

opening: March 30, 2007

21_21 Design Sight marks its opening with the special program Tadao Ando Construction Site 2006 “A Hard-Fought Process”. The program is mainly about getting people to experience the space - by opening the just completed building to the public before 21_21’s first exhibition - and presenting the design process from start to finish through architectural models, photographs, and drawings.

In designing the stage for 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, architect Tadao Ando endeavored to create the kind of architecture he sees as “the face of Japan”.
The building has two levels, one above and one below ground, which houses two galleries - one large, one small. And as most of the interior space lies underground, the dramatic change from quietly balanced exterior to dynamic interior is something that…well…just has to be experienced!

Tadao Ando
Born in Osaka in 1941.
Self-educated in architecture, he established Tadao Ando Architect & Associates in 1969. Major projects include the Church of the Light, the Armani Teatro, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Chichu Art Musuem.
Among the many awards he has received are the Architectural Institute of Japan Prize in 1979 for his Row House in Sumiyoshi, the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the Asahi Prize in 1995, the AIA Gold Medal and the Kyoto Prize in 2002, and the UIA (Union Internationale des Architectes) Gold Medal in 2005.

21_21 Design Sight, is a new design platform in Tokyo.
The directors are three designers: Issey Miyake, Taku Satoh, and Naoto Fukasawa, three designers each working in different mediums (fashion, graphic and industrial design) are the main driving force behind 21_21 Design Sight. Tadao Ando is the architect of the new building.

It will be not so much a museum as a research center for design, a place for thinking about design, and a place where things are actually made. The aim is to share views and ideas with the many parties involved in design, starting with designers and including companies, craftsmen and engineers, as well as consumers, and to launch a movement to foster interest in, and greater understanding of design.