Born in Tokyo, 1941
Education: Tokyo University, 1965
Selected projects: Shimosuwa Municipal Museum, Nagano, Japan, 1990­93; ITM Building, Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan, 1991­93; Tower of the Winds, Yokohama, Japan, 1986

When I leave Tokyo and visit New York, I visit MoMA. This is where the sense of being in Manhattan becomes real to me. It is always a somewhat mysterious experience. While I am expecting a sense of speed, and the experience of hard-edged as well as transparent space in New York, I find a sense of ease and comfort in the space of MoMA, which is completely different from the surrounding space of New York. When I linger in front of the paintings by Mondrian, or feel the presence of Oldenburg's sculptures, I feel a kind of certainty that is hard to describe. It even appears that just being in MoMA gives me a supportive sense of conviction in what I am trying to do in my own work.

This kind of experience I know I can never have in museums in Tokyo. That is a totally unique quality, which I think is completely founded on MoMA's sense of place, a place one can perhaps describe as a Manhattan within Manhattan. In MoMA, various objects create their own spaces around them, together forming many "places," not unlike the condition in a city. I visit and wander between those "places," as if I were island-hopping, and those islands connect themselves with me, which in turn become another Manhattan for me.

Main Concepts
1. MoMA 21 Is Another Tower (Lying Skyscraper): Many historical places where art and space coexist are scattered around MoMA. The new MoMA must integrate these fragmented places and create a strong image as a whole through the Expansion. We propose to design a skyscraper that lies horizontally on 54th Street, connecting The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden and the Expansion site.

2. MoMA 21 Conceived of as a Bar(r) Code: Town houses in Manhattan are laid out in a bar-code manner along the streets. MoMA, which has been expanded over time, also conforms to this bar-codelike spatial structure. We propose to enhance this bar-code spatial structure through the Expansion. Specifically, we propose to enhance the bar code of time (history) along 53rd Street, and the bar code of space along 54th Street. The bar-code system, in our definition, juxtaposes all the components as parallel, without any center, and creates a kind of abstract space, which enables free Expansion. This is exactly the code we feel that most closely aligns with the spirit of MoMA's founder, Alfred Barr.

3. MoMA 21 Embodies...Another Manhattan within Manhattan: These two parallel bar codes create a rather ambiguous space between them, and that is where a junction-like traffic space is provided, connecting the two bar codes. This space is not to be a simple linear route, but rather a kind of changeover, instrument-like space that enables visitors to choose their own different routes. This space is also a highly fluid and multidimensional urban space. This space enables visitors to develop poetic sensibility by making their own free choices.

Proposal
1. Preservation and Renovation: We propose to preserve the existing buildings in principle, except that the ground floor of the north wing will be reconstructed, in order to enhance the relationship between the sculpture garden and the new Expansion site.

2. New Gallery Space: We propose to maintain the existing collection gallery spaces as they are for the most part. There will be nine gallery space units (one unit = approximately 6,500 to 8,000 square feet, from mezzanine level to fourth floor) on the Expansion site. While six of them will be temporary exhibition spaces, all the gallery spaces will be interchangeable and have the freedom of being able to change their use.

3. Entrance: In principle, 53rd Street provides the entrance for the general visitors, members, and staff, and 54th Street for service. We propose to maintain the existing main entrance as it is and provide a new entrance on the western end of 53rd Street for visitors to the theaters, library, and education center, and for visitors, members, and staff. There will be a new, second loading dock on the western end of 54th Street. Other entrances will remain as they are.

4. Connection Space: The connection among the different functions, horizontally as well as vertically, will be provided at the center through a device-like space, which we propose to call "Manhattan." It consists of various elevators (ten in total), escalators (eleven in total), stairs, and void spaces, which give junction space the impression of a three-dimensional electric-circuit panel.

5. Gardens and Terraces: These variously characterized spaces and complex spatial organization will be integrated by a series of gardens and terraces. Other than the existing sculpture garden at the ground floor, we propose a new performance space on the second floor of the north wing, which could be used as an interior as well as exterior space, a new rooftop garden on the third floor of the garden wing, another new rooftop garden on the fourth floor that spans between the west wing and the Expansion site. In addition, we propose to renovate the terraces that are adjacent to existing spaces. These gardens and terraces will not only clarify the positional relationships among the different spaces for the visitors, but also provide a space for comfort and relaxation of the visitors and staff.

6. Mezzanine Level: We propose to make various openings on the ground floor in order create a visual connection between the ground floor and the mezzanine, and thus endorse the spatial value of the mezzanine. By renovating the lobby space to serve the three theaters, as well as connecting it to a new entrance on the western end on the ground floor, we propose to create a spatially festive atmosphere not unlike the theater district at night.

7. Improvement of Spaces for the Curatorial Departments: The six curatorial departments will be situated on the fourth to sixth floors along the 53rd Street side, two departments on each floor. Each department will have a clear and comprehensive layout which consists of different spaces, such as a study center, storage space, and individual office spaces for the curators. We also propose to renovate and provide the gardens, terraces, and staff lounge, in order to guarantee a comfortable environment for the staff. The new curatorial department design will also make use by outside researchers easier and more accessible.

8. Construction Strategy: This proposal retains all of the existing buildings except for the north wing, and thus makes it possible to keep the Museum open as it is now during construction. The construction can be assumed to be phased into the following three stages: 1) New construction of the Expansion site; 2) Demolition of the north wing, renovation of the connecting part between the Expansion and the existing wings, renovation of the sculpture garden and the garden wing; 3) Renovation of the spaces along the 53rd Street side.

Project Credits
Toyo Ito, Takeo Higashi, Sinichi Takeuchi, Nobuhiro Tsukada, Akihisa Hirata, Hironori Matsubara, Mikko Summanen.


These works have been selected from a larger collection of drawings that were submitted for the charette. In addition, the architect's statement has been abbreviated.