Kunibiki Messe Atrium

 

The Kunibiki Messe is a huge convention and exhibition centre in Matsue, Shimane.

The utilitarian fire escape on the side of the main building has been photographd by me several times as the shadow creates an intriguing pattern.

Outside is a huge, red, abstract steel sculpture. No idea who made it, although it is included in the Kunibiki Messe logo.

Kunibiki Messe was designed by one of my favorite architects, Shin Takamatsu, born in Iwami and designer of quite a few public buildings in Shimane.

It opened in 1993.

My main focus in this post is on the atrium.

Filled with metallic, and glass,  geometric shapes,..... cylinders, spheres, cones, it feels like a playful space..

The oval cycliner that crosses through the upper space carries an escalator.

Some of the forms were cordoned off and entry not allowed, which was a shame...

A few people use the space, though its main function seems to be decorative. It is hard to do anything interesting architecturally with what is basically a huge space like a factory or a hangar....

The previous post in this series on Matsue, was on the thatched teahouse Kangetsuan.

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Meteor Plaza

Meteor Plaza

Meteor Plaza is located in the port of Shichirui on the Shimane Peninsuka. Now part ofMihonoseki which itself is now part of nMatsue City.

Its primary function is as a ferry terminal operating car ferries and high-speed ferries to the Oki Islands.

Meteor Plaza was designed by Shimane-born architect Shin Takamatsu and opened in 1995

As well as the ferry terminal the complex also houses a saltwater swimming pool and a museum and performance space, although I am unsure how often the pool opens nowadays.

The museum is devoted to the meteor that struck the earth a few kilometers away in 1992.

The cone of the structure represents the meteor's trajectory, and the weird curved shape is the shape of the meteor itself.

The meteor crashed  through a local house and embedded itself in the earth. The inhabitants, who were home at the time, didn't notice it until next morning as the night was very noisy with a thunderstorm

Inside the big space is a kind of auditorium that puts on a light show and a short movie about the meteor.

When we visited we were the only people there so it was kind of eerie.

The meteor itself is on display inside the cone structure. It weighs 6.8 kilos and is just over 25 cms long.

The architecture appeals to me and I have posted on many other Shin Takamatsu buildings, like his ferry terminal in Nagasaki, his public onsen in Tamatsukuri, a Buddhist Hall on a mountain, and of course, his Sand Museum in his hometown.

The curved interior of the performance space offered me plenty of opportunity for the kind of geometric abstract photos I am partial to...

Goods From Japan

Nagasakiminato Ferry Terminal

 

The Nagasakiminato Terminal is located on the waterfront in Nagasaki.

From here are numerous ferry services, mostly out to the Goto Islands, but also tour boats out to Gunkanjima, the famous "Battleship Island".

The terminal opened in 1995 and was designed by Shin Takamatsu, a Shimane-born architect who has designed several other ferry terminals.

He described the structure as "a 100-meter-long horizontally-oriented oval cylinder with an inverse cone penetrating it."

I am quite fond of Takamatsu's work as we have a lot of his buildings in Shimane.

The ferry terminal is right next door to the Dragon Promenade with its distinctive orange globe.

The spacious interior space created by the "inverted cone" is kind of non functional, but great for my kind of photography.

The previous post on my day exploring Nagasaki on day 60 of my Kyushu Pilgrimage was the Kanko Maru, which I believe is still operating out of the terminal.

Nima Sand Museum Interior

 

These shots were all taken inside the largest pyramid at the Sand Museum in Nima, Shimane.

Suspended above your head is the largest sand timer in the world, the main attraction of the museum.

The #hourglass" itself is 6 meters tall and one meter wide and contains almost one full ton of fine sand which takes a year to pass through the narrow aperture.

On new years eve every year the sandtime is lowered to the floor and at midnight is rotated so that the sand starts to flow again.

Other artworks connected with sand and a variety of events have been tried over the years to popularize the museum, but most visitors seem more attracted to the architecture.

I suspect the place is not making any money at all and I am sure it will not be able to stay open too much longer, though the proximity to the World Heritage sites of Iwami Ginzan may supply enough viitors to forestall that event.

Nima Sand Museum

Nima Sand Museum Japan

I have posted on the Nima Sand Museum before, but it was a long time ago, and the posts no longer have photos. It is one of the local architectural attractions that hasn't closed down, though I believe it is not making money.

A nearby beach, Kthahama, is famous for having "singing sand", that is to say it squeaks when walked on. The local mayor decided this was a good enough reason to oen a unique museum devoted to sand.

The museum is toed with a series of glass pyramids which make it easy to spot when passing nearby. In fact it is said that the architect made the tallest pyramid tall enough so that it could be seen from his mother's grave.

Shin Takamatsu is one of my favorite Japanese architects, and being a local man Shimane has quite a few of his buildings, which often feature simple geometric forms, though the structure closest to this one is probably Seirei, a Buddhist "chapel" near Osaka.

If you are wondering what a sand museum could display, the answer is "not a lot". Its main feature is the worlds largest sand timer, which I will show next.

I visited at the end of my third day walking the Iwami 33 Kannon pilgrimage. Day 4 would see me heading up from Nima into Iwami Ginzan.

Ema