Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Tamana Observatory

 


Taman Observatory is a curious structure located on a small hilltop overlooking a sports park and the town of Tamana beyond. It's not so high and the views are not particularly impressive.


More like an oversized, climbable sculpture than a building, it does have a single room inside the central ovoid shape.


As a photographer I found it exciting as I spent a good hour running around taking lots of geometric, abstract shots.


It is yet another of the Kumamoto Artpolis projects, and was completed in 1992, so an offspring of the bubble-era. Like so many similar projects, the lack of use and deteriorating concrete surfaces do not bode well for the future.


If I was a kid with friends, it would be a great place to play hide and seek, and I would imagine it would be suitable for a paintball contest, with lots of different levels and nooks and crannies.


The architect is a young Kagoshima native, Masaharu Takasaki, who does not seem to be very well known but does have a book written about him. I came across another of his projects earlier in my walk when down in Kagoshima.Nanohanakan  Sports Park is quite bizarre, but also excellent for the kind of geometric, abstract photography I am partial to.. 


It was an excellent place to spend the solstice night to see the sunrise

4 comments:

  1. That is super cool. Nice pics!

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  2. whow, an amazing building ! thanks!

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  3. Stunning pics! And awesome place :-)

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  4. His work is outstanding. Hope to visit this during my upcoming visit to Japan.

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