Forest of Tombs Museum

Tadao Ando – Forest of Tombs Museum. Kumamoto, Japan, 1989-1992

The Grave Forest Museum is an architectural work dedicated to the historic Iwabari mounds in the northern prefecture of Kumamoto.
Located in the middle of the tombs the architecture does not interfere with the surrounding environment, the shapes are simple and clean and almost half of the area is below ground level.
Visitors approach on foot through a lush green forest. The museum is symmetrically positioned to the famous Futago-zuka, a large keyhole-shaped mound, this suggests the idea of the museum as a contemporary mound.

The building consists of a circular courtyard and an L-shaped wall that penetrates up to the center of the courtyard, this masonry forms the structure of a ramp that takes visitors inside the spaces of the museum. The exhibitions invite reflection and awareness of the past and present.
The basic building material is concrete, a classic of Tadao Ando's architecture.