The Naoshima New Museum of Art, the newest member in the celebrated family of cultural spaces that form the Benesse Art Site Naoshima, has just opened its doors. Set in a wider site that spreads across the islands of Naoshima, Teshima, and Inujima in the waters between Japan's main bodies of land, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, the new space is dedicated to contemporary Asian art – and has been designed by Japanese architecture master and Naoshima stalwart Tadao Ando (marking his tenth commission for the same client, the Fukutake Foundation, which is behind the Benesse initiatives).
Inside Tadao Ando's Naoshima New Museum of Art
The Naoshima New Museum of Art is not just one more extension to a beloved arts and community home, but forms a seminal project for its wider cultural site. Soichiro Fukutake, who has led the Benesse Art Site Naoshima since its inception in the late 1980s, has been the force behind its numerous venues and draws in the Seto Inland Sea institution, from Tadao Ando’s Chichu Art Museum (2004) and Valley Gallery (2022) to Hiroshi Sambuichi's Naoshima Hall and Matabe House (2017). Conceived as a real legacy project for an ever-thriving cultural organisation, the addition was designed with the next generations' and Naoshima's future in mind.
'The Naoshima New Museum of Art focuses primarily on Asian contemporary art. This is because, in addition to our expectations that art from these regions will grow in interesting ways going into the future, I believe that we, as Japanese people, must be conscious about our belonging to Asia both geopolitically and culturally. For myself, Asian sensibilities are based on the awareness that human beings are a part of nature and hence living with nature,' says Soichiro Fukutake.
'Having our Western art collection exhibited at our existing museums and art facilities, together with our Asian art collection, including Japanese art being shown at the Naoshima New Museum of Art, the possibilities to develop a comprehensive and well-balanced exhibition program in Benesse Art Site Naoshima are greatly expanded.'
Spanning three floors – one above and two below ground, connected by a subtly dramatic, single staircase – the museum was designed to be close to the ground and echo the island's vernacular forms. Its low volume and pitched roof speak to that, while black plaster on the outside walls that matches the traditional burned-cedar method typically used on the island, and pebble walls inspired by the houses of the Honmura area, further ensure the structure feels at home in its setting.
A carefully designed skylight brings natural the sun deep into the lower floors, and a cafe with an open terrace provides an opportunity for visitors to pause and enjoy the views of the surrounding sea.
N.S.Harsha,Happy Married Life, 2025
Ando explains: 'It is my belief that the experiences in Naoshima will forever linger in the memories of those who visit the island. The songs we listened to and the works of art we saw in our childhood are never forgotten. I hope that many children will visit Naoshima and be able to feel their senses being stimulated so that they can open up doors to a new world.'
The architect continues: 'Such “moving experiences” have the power to nourish human beings and refine our senses, which will in turn lead to more opportunities to be emotionally moved. Naoshima is an island like no other, which is filled with such opportunities. For the Naoshima New Museum of Art, I once again endeavoured to build a place that cultivates sensibilities and moves people’s hearts.'
Do Ho Suh, Hub/s, Naoshima, Seoul, New York, Horsham, London, Berlin, 2025
The Naoshima New Museum of Art launches with an inaugural exhibition titled ‘From the Origin to the Future’. The show, spread across the building's eight galleries, comprises brand new works by 12 artists and groups – some new to the foundation's environment, and some valued, long-term collaborators, such as Cai Guo-Qiang, Takashi Murakami, Do Ho Suh (also currently showing at London's Tate Modern) and Pannaphan Yodmanee.
Exhibition view of inaugural show ‘From the Origin to the Future’, 2025
-
Daisy Margarita Bar reimagines the Mexican tavern with vaquero flair in Los AngelesFrom frozen guacamole margaritas to lamb shank with frijoles puercos, this new Sherman Oaks destination mixes playful gastronomy with tradition
-
The best of California desert architecture, from midcentury gems to mirrored dwellingsWhile architecture has long employed strategies to cool buildings in arid environments, California desert architecture developed its own distinct identity –giving rise, notably, to a wave of iconic midcentury designs
-
Meet Rural Futurisms, 'agents for catalytic change' in South Africa's landscape design fieldLed by Lesego Bantsheng, the collective is challenging conventional ideas of landscape by reimagining how rural communities connect with heritage, ecology and design
-
Campaigners propose reuse to save Kenzo Tange’s modernist ‘Ship Gymnasium’ in JapanThe Pritzker Prize-winning architect’s former Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium is at risk of demolition; we caught up with the campaigners who hope to save it
-
A new photo book explores the symbolic beauty of the Japanese garden‘Modern Japanese Gardens’ from Thames & Hudson traces the 20th-century evolution of these serene spaces, where every element has a purpose
-
The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s favourite July housesFrom geometric Japanese cottages to restored modernist masterpieces, these are the best residential projects to have crossed the architecture desk this month
-
A guide to modernism’s most influential architectsFrom Bauhaus and brutalism to California and midcentury, these are the architects who shaped modernist architecture in the 20th century
-
Mayumi Miyawaki’s Fukumura Cottage puts this lesser-known Japanese modernist in the spotlightDiscover the little-known modernist architect through this private home in Japan’s Tochigi prefecture countryside
-
A Karuizawa house is a soothing, work-from-home retreat in JapanTakeshi Hirobe Architects play with scale and space, creating a tranquil residence in which to live and work
-
Behind a contemporary veil, this Kyoto house has tradition at its coreDesigned by Apollo Architects & Associates, a Kyoto house in Uji City is split into a series of courtyards, adding a sense of wellbeing to its residential environment
-
Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa on harmony, nature and their RIBA gongThe SANAA duo are celebrating their RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2025 in London today, and talked to us about self-reflection, the year ahead, and the need to create harmony in our environment
