Panasonic Creative Museum AkeruE gives form to inspiration. What the design team arrived at was the idea of "a design that you don't want to feel guilty about."

Museum AkeruE opened in Panasonic Center Tokyo in Koto-ku, Tokyo in April 2021. We asked five designers from NOMURA Co., Ltd., who were in charge of this space, to talk about the flow and thoughts of "until Akerue is made."
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The principle exhibition was possible only because of his knowledge of physics and sense of design.

――I heard that there is an exhibition that makes use of your knowledge, who likes physics and was aiming to get a job in physics for a while.

valley
When I start talking about the principle exhibition, it's going to be long, but...

Sasai
No, it's short here (laughs)

valley
Let's make it simple (laughs). There are two types of exhibitions in the Astro exhibition area in Akerue, the A exhibition and the B exhibition. Exhibition A is an exhibition of art works created by artists using scientific principles, and Exhibition B is an explanation of the mechanisms and principles behind these works.

creampie
It is the basis of science that ``it is possible to reproduce the same thing over and over again under the same conditions.''

valley
Children should be able to observe the results of their own experiments. I thought about the design of the principle exhibition with that in mind. In addition, the design intentionally reveals the equipment behind the experiments that would have been hidden in previous museums. If I were a child, I would want to know the back side and how it works.

Koga
So, I made a lot of proposals to Loftwork, saying, ``How about this kind of experiment?''

valley
Once the direction was decided, we went to Loftwork to see if the experiment would work after repeated trials, and we actually tried everything together. Of course, there were some experiments that didn't succeed, so I would be lying if I said I didn't have any troubles (laughs).

creampie
Loftwork also cooperated by preparing various tools in the office.

valley
Loftwork has great planning ability, and it was a lot of fun because they respected Nomura's proposals and worked with us to create it.

Yamaguchi
I think that the design of the principle exhibition was realized at this speed because of Mr. Tani's knowledge of physics and sense of design.

valley
thank you. The exhibition was designed with ease of future updating and repair in mind. For example, I think it might be a good idea to go ahead and repair it when the children are around and show them how it's done.

Koga
Until now, in museums, repairs were done in haste and secretly when there were no visitors. But it's a good place to change, in the future.

valley
yes. When I saw the repair, I thought, 'How can I fix this? I would be happy if the children were excited and interested.

(Left) Mr. Tani's hand-drawn sketch (Right) Principle exhibition device actually produced

Upcycling while accumulating the history of RiSuPia

――I heard that you were strongly conscious of the SDGs this time.

Koga
Update, not tear down. “You reuse parts to keep costs down, right? There may be people who have the image of ”, but in fact, it cannot be said unconditionally.

Yamaguchi
There have been many designs that make use of old folk houses and architectural frameworks (building structures), but when it comes to interior design and exhibition design, it is often related to branding, so the space has been completely renewed. I was asked to do many things. On the other hand, this time, we took on the challenge of updating the interior and exhibitions.

Koga
For example, the stencil that Tani-kun was talking about earlier. There's a story behind it.

valley
yes. When I moved the fixtures in RiSuPia, the floor became quite old. To get the colors to match perfectly, the entire area would have to be re-floored. In the past, I might have made that choice, but...

creampie
Akerue isn't like that. We all talked and agreed.

Yamaguchi
The floor was left as it was, leaving traces on purpose. For traces of exhibitions that prove that Risupia was here, for example, we asked stencil artists to transcribe information about the exhibitions that were there. By doing so, history can be built up, and it can be sublimated as a design. It's an upcycle.

valley
Risupia was a museum with many fans. In order to have such people become fans of Akerue this time, we have installed such devices throughout the building.

Sasai
The reason why RiSuPia's characteristic floral tiles were repainted white without destroying them was because we wanted people to feel the remnants of RiSuPia. In addition, mesh was attached to the ceiling part of the technito area, so we removed all of it and reused it for the walls of Akerue. I made it so that the tools used by children can be hung there.

valley
In practice, however, there were some problems.

Sasai
yes. Since the mesh was pasted on the ceiling, all four sides are not treated and are thorny. I thought it would be dangerous to put it in a place where children could reach, so I decided to manually wind the string around that part, but it took more time and effort than I had imagined...

Yamaguchi
But rather than throwing away things that are still usable, I think it's better to deal with things that can be dealt with if people work hard. That is also part of the SDGs, “responsibility to create, responsibility to use”.

valley
In terms of upcycling, the entrance on the 3rd floor was surrounded by mesh, but we removed it and designed a wider entrance. There was also a proposition to reduce garbage, so I tried and error to see if I could use the mesh for something.

creampie
So, I had a flash of inspiration, 'Let's solve that problem in front of the toilet with this.'

valley
yes. There was a problem that we had to do something about the fact that the entrance of the toilet was completely exposed by removing the exhibition that was in the foreground. When I rearranged the mesh into curves (curves) and installed it, the space in front of the toilet became a wonderful space.

Yamaguchi
"You did a good job! It was an upcycle that made me want to groan.

(Left) Floor design with traces of RiSuPia exhibition (Right) Upcycled mesh for the blind wall in front of the toilet

Koga
When I looked around the site again while thinking about a recycling-oriented society (the 3Rs of reduce, reuse, and recycle), I was impressed that RiSuPia was carefully made with genuine materials.

creampie
I was amazed at the wisdom and politeness of the predecessor who created RiSuPia.

Koga
After I started working for Akerue, I began to think, ``Can I use it for something?'' It was a site where I noticed a lot, and my perspective changed.

Sasai
Regardless of the genre, I would like to change the way of thinking that things cannot be repaired or are easily thrown away.

Yamaguchi
It's about making things that can be used by future generations for a long time. What do you want to be aware of in the future?

valley
You can't build and destroy it instantly.

creampie
It should be a universal design, rather than just getting through it for now.

Only with the understanding of the Product Division

――Once the space design is decided, you will proceed with the actual construction work with the Product Division.

valley
The Product Division plays an engineer-like role to realize our ideals. This time, I would like to thank Mr. Kumazawa, the product director, for his help. He consulted me from an early stage and gave me a lot of advice, saying, 'If that's the intention, there's another way to do it.' It was very reassuring.

Yamaguchi
As I said earlier, rather than reusing what we have now, it's easier and quicker to destroy everything, reset it to an empty space, and then build up new things. When it comes to reusing, you have to handle it carefully when removing the material, so some people may find it troublesome. On that point, Mr. Kumazawa enjoyed the time and effort he spent with us. Thank you.

Koga
In fact, when I looked into the inside of an existing exhibit at the site, I thought, 'This is how it looks! very! polite! It was Mr. Kumazawa who was more than excited and delighted (laughs).

A design that the earth does not want to blame

――Lastly, do you have any goals for the future?

valley
This time, I was able to proceed from a different angle than usual, thinking, 'If I were to make something with my own hands, what would I do?', and I was able to discover a lot of new things. I was reminded once again that I like “manufacturing”. I would like to make use of this experience in my future work.

Sasai
Working with Akerue changed my concept of spatial design. In the future, rather than simply creating a beautiful space, I would like to design it while considering that it will be a space that people will use for a long time.

Koga
Due to the corona crisis, I was frustrated and wondered, ``How is space useful for people?'' As I worked on Akerue, I came to think that ``Akerue is useful to people in terms of nurturing and educating the next generation. . It's a vague way of saying, but now I'm thinking, "I want to be useful."

creampie
I feel that there is a trend toward thinking about designs that do not feel guilty about the earth. In terms of design, I stubbornly believe that things that are beautiful and cool should be righteous and important. It's not completely wrong, but the value doesn't stop there. I want to make sure that I don't forget it in my future work.

Yamaguchi
Almost everyone said what they wanted to say (laughs). The time has come to seriously consider whether what the mass-consumer society has been pushing is really true. Although only disposable items have surfaced and become a problem, I sometimes feel that the power of the designers who design them is also being consumed in large quantities. I strongly believe that this will change as the SDGs become more widespread in the future. For example, for things that are universal to some extent, such as the exhibition on principles and the theme of SDGs, I think it would be good if museums all over the world could freely adopt them by making them open source. It's a waste to spend time thinking about the same thing from scratch. I think it would be good to use that time to focus on the more important design. For example, thinking about ease of repair, or thinking about ideas that can be used for a long time. Including such things, Akerue's work has become a project that gave us the opportunity to change our values.

--thank you very much.

Panasonic Creative Museum AkeruE

Text: Sachiko Minamoto / Facilitator: Chikako Abe / Photo: Kei Yamazaki, Shino Suzuki