The work of art that I choose is the Miho Museum, designed by I.M.Pei. It is located southeast of Kyoto, Japan, near the town of Shigaraki, in Shiga Prefecture.
The architect I. M. Pei had earlier designed the bell tower at Misono, the international headquarters and spiritual center of the Shumei organization. Mihoko Koyama and her daughter, Hiroko Koyama, again commissioned Pei to design the Miho Museum. The bell tower can be seen from the windows of the museum.
After designing the bell tower at Misono, which is the international headquarters and spiritual center of the Shumei organization, I.M.Pei was commissioned by Mihoko Koyama and her daughter Hiroko Koyama to design the miho museum, from the windows of which can see the bell tower.
The Miho Museum is executed in a hilly and forested landscape. Approximately three-quarters of the 17400 square meter building is situated underground, carved out of a rocky mountaintop. The roof is a large glass and steel construction, and the exterior and interior walls and floor are made of a warm beige-colored limestone from France, which is the same material used by Pei in another famous work of architecture of his – the reception hall of the Louvre.
The Miho Museum has reminded me of Villa Savoye designed by Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier was an architect, designer, urbanist, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. I.M.Pei was greatly influenced and inspired by his work, as most of modern architects do.
The reason why I think the Miho Museum is making reference to the Villa Savoye is that both of them make good use of light, allowing natural light to fill the vast space of the architecture. And both represent a simple, modernist style.
Thanks for your introduction, which makes me learn more about the art of architecture :)
回覆刪除Could you show us some photos of the bell tower?
I would want to know more about the concept behind the design, and how it related to contemporary art.
As i know that Le Corbusier have launched five principles of the architecture. As u said this architect's idea is inspire from Le Corbusier. Does he use these principles? How the architecture relate to the surrounding environment?
回覆刪除In Miho Museum , i can find two signature designs by I.M.Pei.
回覆刪除One is the design of the glass ceilings, that you can refer to his other works, such as the HSBC Tower in HK, the Fragrant Hill Hotel in Beijing or the Pyramid du Louvre in Paris. The usage of natural lighting through the windows enables the expansion of interior space.
The second design is the pattern on interior or exterior walls composited by simple geometric figures, including square, triangle or circle, creating the aesthetically beauty of the architecture.
Dear Aaron,
回覆刪除In your post you mainly talk about the the modernistic style and reference to Le Corbusier, and in your presentation you talked about how to modernize traditional architectural ideas. I would be interested in knowing about how you think this relates to some of the ideas we talked about in our class and to contemporary art in general. In early stages of modernism, tradition was something to abolish, so how did this reunite in architectural practice of Pei? Also, Do the traditional elements that he use in his modern structures still retain the same meaning as it did thousands of years ago? Or do meanings change?