Blam. There it hits you. Powerful. A motif repeated and repeated and repeated, an object so familiar, so common, yet through this repetition, aggrandizement, regular, rigorous, it becomes an altogether different experience. 11m high. 20,000 books. Warm wood, the slight curve letting the light caress the thousands of volumes, the verticality of the space playing with the verticality of the spines, the high walkway, the movable ladder that is itself a bookcase, the reading desks, a spot to ponder and explore. A demonstration of the creative spirit, a physical manifestation of knowledge and research and the human expanse. Bold while fascinating and inviting.

Completed in 2001, this is the Shiba Ryotaro Memorial Museum, built next to the author’s former home.

Another visceral and moving space by Tadao Ando.