The SIMOSE Art Museum is a new cultural institution located in Ōtake, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. Opened in 2023, it is the cultural heart of the broader SIMOSE Vision, initiated by Yumiko Shimose to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Marui Sangyo Co., Ltd. The company, which began in a modest one-room space measuring just 4.5 tatami mats, has steadily grown and now engages in metal fabrication, piping, and the restoration of traditional architectural elements—reflecting a strong commitment to craftsmanship and cultural heritage. Architecturally innovative and ecologically sensitive, the museum houses the family collection of Yumiko Shimose and her parents, and presents exhibitions that resonate with the region's natural and historical context. The curatorial focus is on the dialogue between modernist art from Japan and the West, with an eye toward expanding into the field of contemporary art. Designed by Pritzker Prize laureate Shigeru Ban, the museum's modular and moveable structure merges seamlessly with its surroundings. Its mission is to foster connection, reflection, and regeneration through a dialogue between art, nature, and architecture.
The SIMOSE Art Museum was born from the vision of Yumiko Shimose, who sought not only to preserve the legacy of her parents’ art collection, but also to create a cultural landmark that reconnects people with the land, with the collective memory embedded in the region, and with the transformative potential of artistic imagination.
Hiroshima, where Marui Sangyo Co., Ltd. was originally founded, is a city marked by both catastrophe and resilience—a place of loss and recovery, devastation and peace. This historic backdrop shaped the desire to build a museum of care, reflection, and renewal. Just to the east lies Miyajima, home to the sacred Itsukushima Shrine. There, amidst pristine nature, Japanese spirituality resonates with timeless intensity. The museum exists between these poles—of history and healing, industrial progress and spiritual stillness. Ōtake, the museum’s chosen location, offered both access to the Seto Inland Sea and a layered natural environment that reflects the museum’s guiding principle of "the in-between." Here, the architectural vision of colorful, floating, movable galleries could unfold in harmony with sea, sky, and land. The landscape’s quiet strength supports the museum’s curatorial direction, which focuses on postwar and contemporary art—emphasizing resonance over spectacle, slow perception over consumption.
The museum sees itself as a bridge between past and future, between cultural memory and artistic innovation. Its exhibitions explore transcultural dialogues and site-specific formats that invite viewers to encounter art through space, silence, and time. It also contributes to the cultural and economic revitalization of the Setouchi region by attracting international visitors, offering educational programming, and strengthening the local identity.
Ultimately, the SIMOSE Art Museum embodies a belief that art, community, and memory are inseparable—and that museums can be places of reconnection, regeneration, and hope.
Simose Art Museum Passageway 2023
Conception and Support
Yumiko Shimose, CEO of Marui Sangyo Co., Ltd., initiated the museum project as both a personal and regional investment in cultural sustainability. Executive Vice President Ryosuke Yoshimura provided strategic guidance, while Shigeru Ban and Kenya Hara shaped the architectural and visual identity. Board members such as Kisei Takahashi and Masahito Ohi contributed to the evolving institutional vision. A private foundation model ensures governance and financial resilience, supporting long-term curatorial independence. This collective vision transformed a private initiative into a sustainable cultural institution. Innovation and Jury Impression
What made this project truly stand out to the jury was the way it translated traditional Japanese values – such as impermanence, simplicity, harmony with nature, and reverence for space – into a language that feels deeply contemporary. Shigeru Ban’s architecture—comprising eight movable, translucent gallery cubes floating on a water basin—creates a meditative interplay of light, color, and reflection. These cubes are reconfigurable, offering curatorial flexibility and a dynamic visitor experience. Symbolically, the number eight represents abundance and harmony in Shintōism. Architecturally, timber construction and mirrored walls enhance the dialogue between structure and landscape and also highlight advanced engineering. The site also includes a larger exhibition hall, French restaurant, and villas inspired by Ban’s earlier designs, forming a living archive of his work. Kenya Hara’s visual language reinforces the museum’s calm, understated ethos. Together, these elements present a museum model that is sustainable in material and spirit—a place that listens, adapts, and invites reflection.
Unique Qualities
The SIMOSE Art Museum does not follow the model of the monumental urban museum. It deliberately distances itself from spectacle and instead cultivates a quiet, resonant experience of art. Located in Ōtake near Hiroshima, between industrial present and sacred landscapes, it inhabits a space “in-between” – geographically, symbolically, and philosophically.
The museum’s modular architecture by Shigeru Ban, with floating gallery cubes and a mirrored glass wall, allows for ongoing transformation and curatorial flexibility. It is a building that breathes with its surroundings – nature, light, and water become co-authors of the visitor’s experience. Its program is equally distinct: rooted in the family collection, yet oriented toward contemporary art, it seeks resonance with themes of collective memory, ecology, and cultural healing. Art here is not consumed, but encountered – slowly, reflectively, with space for silence.
As a private initiative, SIMOSE operates with independence and agility, enabling responsive programming and deep collaboration with artists and the local community. Hospitality is part of its concept – through gardens, architecture, and residencies, the museum becomes a place to stay, think, and feel. In all its parts, SIMOSE is not only a museum, but a living landscape – an organism of care, transformation, and shared meaning.
Simose Art Museum_Entrace Interior_2024.
Difficulties and Facilitators
Realizing the museum’s architectural vision posed significant technical challenges—floating galleries, seismic resistance, and a 180-meter mirrored wall required cutting-edge engineering. Building outside a metropolitan center also meant establishing visibility and infrastructure from the ground up.
COVID-19 impacted timelines and logistics. Coordinating architecture, content, and institutional planning demanded flexibility and resilience. Yet the clarity of the founder’s vision, the team’s shared purpose, and the inspiring landscape made progress possible.
Yumiko Shimose’s support, Ryosuke Yoshimura’s leadership, and Shigeru Ban’s creative freedom enabled coherence across all project dimensions. SIMOSE became more than a museum—a fulfilled promise of cultural care and continuity.
Future Plans
The SIMOSE Art Museum remains committed to its founding vision: to create exhibitions that are accessible yet intellectually resonant, “not too lofty, but enjoyable for all.” This visitor-centered philosophy will continue to guide future developments.
Central to the museum’s growth is the expansion of its contemporary art collection. Works by artists exploring transcultural identities, ecological concerns, and spiritual reflection—especially from postwar to present along East-West and North-South axes—will deepen the museum’s narrative and global relevance.
The “in-between” remains both the museum’s conceptual compass and geographic reality. Located between sacred and industrial, nature and technology, past and future, the museum will continue to evolve within this unique tension—interpreting it through curatorial choices, architectural flexibility, and community engagement.
Future plans include more site-specific commissions, stronger ties to global institutions, and education-focused programming for regional impact. SIMOSE will remain a living organism: locally rooted, globally connected, and ever responsive to societal change.
Defining Professional Excellence
Excellence at SIMOSE means resonance. It is found in alignment between architecture, content, and visitor experience. It means building with integrity, caring for context, and creating a space that endures ethically and aesthetically.
Advice for Similar Endeavors
Let the project grow from its place. Partner with those who understand the long breath of cultural work. Go slow. Let care, not speed, guide the process. Museums are more than repositories—they are living spaces for memory, attention, and hope.