Deji Cultural Complex Museum | Descry Design
Deji Cultural Complex Museum by Masato Kure

Deji Cultural Complex Museum

Platinum A' Design Award Winner 2023

Scanning this museum entrance from ceiling to floor reveals a remarkable interior space dominated by an elaborate white geometric ceiling structure. The ceiling consists of countless white linear elements arranged in intersecting triangular patterns, creating a lattice-like canopy that spans the full width and depth of the visible space, suggesting the complexity of woven fabric or branching natural forms rendered in architectural scale. Suspended within this overhead structure, illuminated white letters spell out the museum name, these typographic elements floating at various depths and appearing to cascade gently downward like snowflakes caught mid-descent. The central focal point, positioned directly ahead at middle depth, presents a dark charcoal wall approximately two stories in height that provides striking contrast against the surrounding whiteness, this wall featuring additional text in warm gold tones and serving as the apparent reception or ticketing area. Between the viewer and this dark wall, a curtain composed of thousands of slender vertical rods creates a translucent screen, these elements white at their tops and darkening to gray-black at their bottoms, producing a gradient effect reminiscent of gentle rainfall or streaming data. The floor beneath displays smooth stone in warm beige tones, its organic curved edges traced by strips of amber light that glow like embers. The overall light feels cool and diffused, like overcast daylight filtered through frosted glass, creating an atmosphere of calm spaciousness. The space conveys a sense of hushed anticipation, the temperature feeling cool and fresh, with the implied silence of a place designed for contemplation. White cylindrical turnstiles or barriers stand as sentinels before the dark wall, their smooth surfaces reflecting the ambient illumination.

Deji Cultural Complex provides a fusion of cultural arts and commercial facilities. It has six extensive facilities including an art museum, a museum, a bookstore, shops, and a café on its top 7300 m2 floor. The coexistence of these facilities allows customers to stop by at one they would not have otherwise visited. What makes The Triangle. JP's design innovation is that they entirely got rid of walls between spaces. By eliminating partitions, it freed the space from having boundaries between inside and outside giving customers a little "preview" before entering the space.