Taiyo Museum ~No Charity, but a Chance!~

Founded in 1965 by Dr. Yutaka Nakamura, known as the father of sports for people with disabilities in Japan, Taiyo no Ie is a facility that supports the independence of people with disabilities through their lives, work and sports, with the philosophy of "No Charity, but a Chance." Looking back on the founder, Dr. Yutaka Nakamura, the history of welfare for people with disabilities in Japan and Taiyo no Ie, as well as the legacy of the 1964 Tokyo Paralympic Games and the history of sports for people with disabilities, the establishment of the Taiyo Museum was planned as a place where people with physical, intellectual, mental and developmental disabilities who still find it difficult to live can have dreams and hopes.
The concept of this museum is to "learn," "experience," and "be moved," and visitors can view documents and archives, see tools that support the lives of people with disabilities, and try out sports for people with disabilities.
The Taiyo Museum is also a place for local interaction and a base for continuing to disseminate information toward the symbiotic society of the future. We want people to discover their own potential and move toward a society in which everyone can live as they are. We aim to expand the circle of activities toward the realization of a truly symbiotic society from Beppu to both domestic and international audiences.

I felt that through the discussions, our desire to create a unique, experiential, future-oriented museum, as well as a base for thinking about and communicating about a symbiotic society, became even stronger.

The entire space was designed to be bright and light, like a sunlit spot, so that visitors to the museum, regardless of whether they have a disability or not, would feel motivated to take a step towards the future with dreams and hopes. The music for the space was also created to match the concept design, which has a great effect in making visitors' "feelings" future-oriented. The museum logo was created to combine various shapes while aiming for harmony and to convey the image of coexistence. The key visual used in the graphics is a diagonal line that rises to the right, with the image of sunlight pouring down evenly, as in the name of the facility. This diagonal line is also incorporated into various elements of the space. In addition, the old reference room had a large number of old and valuable materials, but if it looked like a history museum, it would be difficult to feel that it was a future-oriented museum, so we carefully discussed the selection of displays and selected items that would convey the message we wanted to convey, and we considered how to present them to be as light as possible. In each zone, in addition to the history of Taiyo no Ie, elements were added to express the "present", and at the end of displays there was a map with the theme "For ⇒ With: What does it mean to live together?" plotting examples of symbiosis occurring in the city of Beppu, providing an opportunity to think about a symbiotic society.
In addition, an artwork called "Everyone's Sun" was created as the symbol of the museum, using 4,000 bamboo sticks dyed in various colors, and was freely woven by a total of 400 people, including users of the Sun House and employees of affiliated companies, to represent the sunlight and coexistence of the people. [Donated (planning, concept design, and production) NOMURA (tentative)]

We have received comments such as, "The museum is bright and displays are easy to see," "The hands-on displays were very hands-on and helped me to deepen my understanding of people with disabilities," and "This is what you'd expect from NOMURA Ltd."