Centennial International Student Memorial Hall

The Centennial Student Memorial Hall is a cultural exchange facility that connects to the future the stories of the young Asian students who came to Japan in the early 20th century in search of new knowledge and skills.
The museum was opened with the aim of hosting exhibitions and serving as a place where different cultures and values can intersect and people can deepen mutual understanding through dialogue.
We were responsible for the planning and basic concept of the Centennial International Students Memorial Hall, as well as design, layout, building execution. We were also in charge of displays design and construction for the special exhibition "Young Zhou Enlai's Footprints in Tokyo" held to commemorate the opening of the hall.

In the early 20th century, when Japanese culture and industry were flourishing, many Asian students came to Tokyo to study. Many of them became great leaders who led their countries after returning home, but there were also many who faced various problems during their student life in a foreign land.
What kind of aspirations did they have when they came into contact with Japanese learning and culture, and what hardships did they face while pursuing themselves? Looking back on that history, we wanted to create a spatial experience that would teach the importance of intercultural understanding and taking on challenges, and a place that would serve as a cultural exchange hub that would serve as a bridge between Japan and Asia, where the younger generation could gain inspiration to carve out their own future.

We focused on the fact that even though they were great people whose names will be remembered for generations to come, they had the same "worries" as people living in the modern age. We created a spatial experience that allows visitors to learn about the worries of international students at that time using a variety of approaches, including graphics and video, a four-and-a-half-tatami room that depicts life at the time, and interactive content that allows visitors to actually have conversations.

The special exhibition also focuses on the diary that Zhou Enlai wrote while studying abroad. To create an displays that makes visitors feel as if they are immersed in the diary, the museum has incorporated book motifs into concept design and created symbolic objects inspired by the actual diary.