Konica Minolta Planetarium “TENKU” in TOKYO SKYTREE TOWN

Japan Federation of Interior Planner’s Association (JIPA) Review

Tenku is a planetarium where five types of light—natural, indirect, specular, refracting, and projection—interweave, providing a visual experience that creates image and space. By obtaining the assistance of corporations that are superior in optical technologies, a new sense of design focused on the “light” emerges. Algorithm-based patterns are processed through perforation, where the external wall of the foyer, producing a moire effect with the internal patterns, changes variably depending on the angle of view. While symbolizing eternal “cosmos” and “distortion of space and time,” exceeding the human wisdom, the planetarium reproduces the radiance of the seven nebular colors of “Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl,” Japan’s national treasure. By constituting the space where the sky-reflecting white mesh dome above the planetarium guest seat acts as a positive (a lead role) and the foyer that expresses the Japanese sensation of observing the cosmos inside the Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl as a negative (a supporting role), the facility strives to achieve a new form of wa-harmony.

Total design: Nomura Co. (Art direction / Masami Morita, Interior / Masami Morita + Kyoko Kosugi, Architecture / Hiroshi Ueno), Lighting design / Masanobu Takeishi: ICE
Award: CS Design Award, Interior Planning Award 2014