Tadao Ando’s Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art

The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art’s rock fascade and bulky shape remind of the bulky and squat Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in St. Louis. But on approach, the Hyogo museum has plenty to offer. A pedestrian bridge offers you several approaches into the building: to the front, to a ramp that goes to the waterside entrance, and to the third-floor plaza. The waterside entrance faces an industrial inlet of Osaka Bay and is the the bookend of a waterfront park that Ando also designed. The part is utilitarian and spare, but serves its purpose as a place for kids to play games and for people to have space to walk. It also has an amphitheater, a popular Ando construct.