21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

Background

The museum stands in central Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, near Kenroku-en and the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art. Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, its circular plan is 112.5 metres across and deliberately kept low, with access from several directions; the transparent glass walls keep it from reading as a large, closed-off mass. Galleries range from 4 to 12 metres in height, and a library, lecture hall and children's workshop sit around the edge of the building. The museum opened on 9 October 2004 with a policy of collecting works made since 1980 that "propose new values", and its director is Yuko Hasegawa. Among the large-scale permanent works, Leandro Erlich's Swimming Pool (2004) can be viewed from both upper and lower levels, and Olafur Eliasson's Color Activity House (2010) lets you walk between panes of coloured glass.

Local customs

• View the Swimming Pool from both its upper and lower levels, and walk between the coloured glass of the Color Activity House
• see the permanent collection and special exhibitions, and use the museum library and children's workshop
• stroll the lawns outside and the surrounding streets, and combine your visit with Kenroku-en.

Travel tips

• Some public areas are free to enter, and gallery admission is as officially announced
• weekends and special exhibitions are crowded, so try to visit off-peak. The museum has a restaurant and a shop. Take a bus from Kanazawa Station to the Korinbo or Kenroku-en area and walk a short way
• Kenroku-en and the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art are also within walking distance of the city centre.
• You can visit indoors all year round
• in spring you can add Kenroku-en's cherry blossoms, the museum is cool in summer, and the circular glass building in the snow is well worth seeing in winter.