PRECEDENT ANALYSIS 2

During the 1990s, a Japanese textbook publisher called the Benesse Corporation, appointed architect Tadao Ando to create a museum and hotel designed around the theme of "Nature and Art."
The Benesse House Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum constructed in 1992 is located on Naoshima, small fishing island in Japan’s Inland Sea. The tiny island houses the museum, hotel, and a small community of fishermen. There are no bridges to Naoshima; therefore visitors must take a ferry ride to visit the remotely nestled piece of architecture. The museum is buried into a ridge overlooking the sea.
As visitors arrive, a plateau of wild flowers greets them. Over half of the structure is located underground in order to allow the scenic surroundings to remain undisturbed. Once in the main building, viewers are met with a cylindrical two level space, which is brightened by a cylindrical skylight. Art galleries are positioned around the cylinder from lowest basement level to the top two floors, which also consist of guest rooms that face the Inland sea and other walls. The entire structure surrounds a circular pool. Also, the museum is constructed in concrete, yet it exudes elegance; an effect Tadao Ando has mastered often.
Ando is best known for his extreme attention to detail and his abilities to give an essence of fluidity to concrete. Unlike many architects, Tadao Ando taught himself the skill of architecture by observing and traveling to the United States, Europe, and Africa.