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- Kumamoto Castle Tower
Kumamoto Castle Tower
As a "symbol of reconstruction," it conveys the history and passion of the people who have restored it after each disaster.
- Cultural Spaces
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Entrance to the "Cave" on the basement floor of the small castle tower: Video Production arranged to Spatial Production a solemn atmosphere and heighten the sense of anticipation of entering the castle.
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Small castle tower basement "Cave" Introduction Video: Impressive scenes depicting the history of the castle tower from its construction to disasters, fires, reconstruction, earthquakes, and restoration. In the background are construction work to prevent stone walls from collapsing and earthquake-resistant equipment.
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Castle and town model: A model centered around Kumamoto Castle uses projection mapping to introduce the overall structure and divisions of the castle, including the main citadel and castle grounds.
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Prologue - The Kato Era: The exhibition begins with a presentation on the historical background of Kato Kiyomasa, the castle's builder, entering Kumamoto, and the process by which the castle was constructed.
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Model of the castle tower framework: A model created for verifying Architectural Design when the castle tower was rebuilt in 1960. A model has been added that reproduces the stone walls in three dimensions.
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Tactile models of large and small castle towers: These are bronze reproductions that allow people with visual impairments to understand the overall shape and appearance by touch.
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Hosokawa Period "The Castle Tower as an Armory": Armour and other weapons are reproduced and displayed to show that the castle tower was originally used as an armoury.
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Theme visuals: At the entrance to each floor, a large graphic wall sign will be displayed featuring a symbolic visual that represents the theme of that floor.
Photo by: YASHIRO PHOTO OFFICE
About the Project
| Overview | The Kumamoto earthquake of April 2016 also caused damage to the Kumamoto Castle tower. In response to the voices of people who longed to see the symbolic tower restored to its original state, Kumamoto City set a policy of quickly restoring the tower, and the building was completed in March 2021, incorporating the latest earthquake-resistant technology. This building carries on the passion of the people who have restored the castle after repeated disasters over the 400 years since it was built, and contains messages from the people of Kumamoto living "today" for the next 100 and 400 years into the future. The exhibits are organized into a chronological theme from the basement to the top floor, with a corresponding spatial design, and an easy-to-understand and impressive space has been created using models, Video, wall designs, etc. Focusing on the castle tower rather than the entire castle, the exhibits convey the history of the castle when it was built, its architectural design, its defensive functions, the development of the castle and the town, and the thoughts and history of the people who restored it after each disaster it suffered. |
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| Issues/Themes | ・To promote the historical, architectural and spiritual significance of the castle tower, which is a symbol of the recovery from the Kumamoto earthquakes. Also, to promote the fact that Kumamoto Castle, which has suffered many natural disasters throughout history, has once again been restored after the recent earthquake. - Focus on the "Kumamoto Castle Keep" rather than the entire Kumamoto Castle, and aim to share responsibilities and cooperate and complement the exhibits of the surrounding facilities. - Due to the many constraints on the preservation environment inside the castle tower, actual materials will not generally be exhibited, but a new exhibit on the history of Kumamoto Castle tower from the Satsuma Rebellion onwards will be added. - From the perspective of universal design, we will introduce tactile exhibits and multilingual audio guides so that a wide range of people can enjoy the exhibits. |
| Space Solution/Realization | The story is arranged so that the story follows a timeline from the castle's construction to the present, with the castle tower as the main focus, and each floor has a theme for each era. The first floor depicts the era of Kato Kiyomasa, who built the castle, followed by the era of Hosokawa, who became the feudal lord after him, the modern era when the castle burned down and was rebuilt, and the modern era when the Kumamoto earthquake and efforts to restore it are underway. The story is arranged so that the story follows the different eras from the lower floors to the upper floors. In addition to the castle tower as a structure, Video and other elements are focused on the strong will of the people who have repaired the castle after each disaster since the Edo period, despite the repeated disasters, to "restore Kumamoto Castle to its original state and pass it on to future generations." Furthermore, in order to cater to a wide range of visitors to the castle, we planned and realized a multilingual audio guide and a tactile model of the castle tower that allows visitors to understand its shape by touching it. |
Basic Information
| Client | Kumamoto City |
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| Services Provided | Nomura-Tansei Specific Business Outsourcing Joint Venture: Planning, Design, Layout, sign and Graphic Design, Furniture Production, content design and production, production and Display Construction, production and interior construction *Planning, Design, Layout are subcontracted to Obayashi Corporation |
| Our Team | Planning: Haruhiro Tateishi, Jun Yamada / TANSEI Research Institute Tatsuro Shiota, Hanako Yoshiya Design, Layout: Kazunori Morohoshi, Kenji Takahashi Sculptor: Hiroshi Nakai Equipment: Tatsuro Shiota, Hanako Yoshiyaji, Tansei Research Institute Electricity: Yoshizo Ogura Production, Construction: Koji Sakata, Noriaki Arawaka Project Management: Kenji Nakagawara, Takahiro Tsuji |
| Awards | "55th Japan Sign Design Award" Bronze Award, Kyushu Region Award "KUKAN DESIGN AWARD 2021" Shortlist |
| Location | Kumamoto Prefecture |
| Open | June 2021 |
| Website | https://castle.kumamoto-guide.jp |
| Tag |
plan
Haruhiro Tateishi
As a planner, he is in charge of museum exhibitions from the planning stage to the construction stage. He has created spaces that meet customer expectations in a wide range of exhibition facilities and corporate museums, including history, science and technology, transportation, and disaster prevention. He is also actively involved in making information barrier-free.
*The shared information and details of the project is accurate as of the date they were posted. There may have been unannounced changes at a later date.
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