Kansai Library – Japan

The Kansai library was a competition project proposed for the new center of Seika, Japan, a science city developed to facilitate government decentralization. It is aesthetically linked to buildings of the past to perpetuate an element of national history and artistic inheritance. An element of national pride, it would be worthy of standing beside Japan’s traditional masterpieces while at the same time paying homage to the automated technology of the 21st century.Tensile architecture has a natural affinity with the subtly curved roof forms of traditional buildings. Drawing on traditional lines but using modern means the goal was to create a functional monument of architectural art.