Japanese museum celebrates its beauty in forest

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Japanese museum celebrates its beauty in forest

SAPPORO is considered a masterpiece of architectural acoustics in this northern Japan city that harmonizes with nature in a large forest.

Hokkaido Museum is located in Nopporo Forest Park in Sapporo's Atsubetsu Ward, one of the world's largest lowland forests in a suburban metropolis. It was designed by architectural acoustics pioneer Takeo Sato to harmonize with the forest, and opened as the Historical Museum of Hokkaido in December 1970. The building has a reinforced concrete structure, but the walls look as if they are made of bricks, hence the facility known as Mori no charenga brown bricks in the forest. Some 750,000 bricks made from the same soil are used on the interior and exterior walls.

A particularly impressive feature of the museum is its Memorial Hall with a 10 meter high ceiling. A tapestry measuring 8 meters by 4.5 meters hangs on a brick wall, while about 1,600 horseshoes are displayed on the other side - a nod to the historical achievements of horses in the local industry and life in Hokkaido.

Museum researcher Akiyo Suzuki, 28, said this architecture can be the culmination of Takeo Sato's work. I want people to take a lot of time to enjoy the details. This series explores Japan's architectural wonders and secrets of the past.