A few years back Gregg and I went to Kyoto Japan to buy Ikebana Baskets for a show we were curating at our Gallery in Santa Barbara. While there, even though we didn't have much time we made time to visit the Miho Museum. Off the beaten track, for sure, but so well worth the effort. The Museum is Southeast of Kyoto near the town of Shigaraki, in Shiga Prefecture. The Museum house the private collection of Mihoko Koyama the heiress to the Toyobo Textile business. The museum is named for her.
I.M. Pei the Architect that Mihoko Koyama commissioned to design the museum referred to it as "Shangri-La" Evidently because hi design for the approach to the museum involves a long walkway on a bridge across a gorge and then through a tunnel through the hilly landscape. When one emerges out of the tunnel "you have arrived in "Shangri-La".
Pei used the same French Limestone he used at his Louvre Pyramid in Paris. The structural engineers were LERA. Leslie E. Robertson Assoc. 75% of the museum's structure was built into the excavated mountain top. The earth was re filled over the structure essentially making most of the museum underground. The effect is that the forested hills are embracing the museum and that the whole environment is harmonious with nature.
