Planning cultural facilities such as museums. Build a new culture while staying close to the community

Since joining the company in 2009, Kyohei Kishida has been involved in planning museums and other cultural facilities. Every day, he thinks about the concept of what kind of displays to have in the facilities and how to concept design the space. We will take a look at Kishida, who is single-mindedly working with the desire to create places where people can gather and build a local culture.

``How much can you become a fan of the region?'' Based on the fieldwork, plan

“Through my work, I was able to find my hometown in Japan.”

That's what Kishida from the Creative Headquarters Planning Center says. Kishida has planned numerous facilities such as "Noto Satoyama Satoumi Museum", "Fukui Prefectural Vein Museum", "Tokushima Prefectural Museum", and "Hyogo Prefectural Hyogo Tsu Museum". The themes dealt with are various, but they are all cultural facilities rooted in the region.

Kishida's work begins with experiencing the charm of the region. At one point, he boarded a boat with a fisherman, and at other times, entered a huge underground facility with a scholar... While working closely with the local people, we proceed with the planning of what kind of facilities should be created to convey the appeal of the facility.

Kishida: “The important thing is how much you become a fan of the region. That’s why I go to the site almost every month and have meetings. I'm going.

No matter where I go, there are many people who welcome me, and some of them treat me like a child. While falling in love with the area to the point that it feels like home, we scoop up the questions and surprises that lie in the area. That will be the basis of your plan.

Based on the charm that I sensed from the experience, I will work out a planning policy unique to that space. For example, when I was walking through Satoyama and Satoumi on the Noto Peninsula, the scenery from the mountains to the sea was so magnificent that I wanted to express this wonderful scenery in a museum. So, by combining the front and floor images, we created a dynamic space that makes you feel like you're walking in the air." (Noto Satoyama Satoumi Museum)

Kishida's method is to express such ideas by sketching them with his own hands. While involving the designers, team members, and customers, I gave a presentation on what the essential charm of this area was, and shared their opinions.

Kishida: I'm not an expert on the themes handled by museums. That's why I create facilities while listening to the stories of scholars and curators who are familiar with historical facts.

What's important to us is how to convey the theme in an easy-to-understand way to children and the general public. We use digital technology to create displays and make other efforts to make the exhibits child-friendly.

At the museum, which opened in November 2022, visitors wear glasses-shaped devices called Hololens, and the people of that time who appear in the space unfold in a theatrical drama. In addition, we will approach history in various ways, such as expressing history in a way that anyone can enjoy, such as a 'singing and dancing historical drama'." (Hyogo Prefectural Hyogo Tsu Museum)

In recent years, Kishida has been focusing on creating "social good" facilities. He actively incorporates "inclusive concept design" that can be enjoyed by foreigners and people with disabilities, and creates facilities that make the world a better place.

"I want to work to bring happiness to the community" - During his university days, he weighed farming against NOMURA

▲When I was a student, I participated in rice harvesting with local elementary school students. Rare rice racks now

In college, Kishida majored in architecture. Although he was absorbed in working on it, he says that he suddenly realized something.

Kishida: "One day, I thought deeply about architecture and realized that rather than just building something, I wanted to concept design the culture and sociality that would be created after it was built, and the people who would spend time there. In terms of the kanji for 'architecture,' I was more interested in the kanji for 'construct' (to build) than the kanji for 'build.'"

My interest in building culture was evident in my university extracurricular activities. As part of his extracurricular activities, Kishida frequently visited farming villages about 25 kilometers away from the city where his university was located, and stayed at the homes of local grandfathers and grandmothers. What was there was the desire to liven up the area.

Kishida: I was indebted to an old-fashioned house with a Goemon bath and a wood-burning stove. While listening to the stories of the local people, I thought about how I could make this area better.

At that time, my motivation was not so much to create a community, but to entertain and make the people in the community happy. So, after graduating from university, I thought it might be a good idea to continue living in a farming village and make a living as a half-farmer, half-builder.”

Architectural concept design? Agriculture? Or both? What would make life more enjoyable? Kishida was troubled. But one day, he came across a paper from the Cultural Environment Research Institute, a think tank of NOMURA Ltd. Through the paper, he learned that NOMURA concept design and operates museums, and the next day, he immediately visited the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture, which is also managed by NOMURA, Ltd.

Kishida: "I spoke with the general manager and heard in detail about the intention behind concept design of the museum. It was truly a job creating culture. I remember being surprised that such an interesting company existed."

Kishida thought, "I can do farming even when I'm older." So he thought, "In that case, I'll join NOMURA first and absorb the methods to make the local area more lively."

Kishida: I chose to become a planner rather than a designer because I wanted to be involved in the phase of thinking about the essence of a facility. I got a job offer without any problems, and I'm here now."

Aiming for displays that can be enjoyed by everyone, with a strong focus on "inclusive concept design"

▲Fukui Prefectural Varve Museum. A 45-meter varve for 70,000 years is displayed in the gallery as it is

In 2018, Kishida served as the main planner for the Fukui Prefectural Veiled Museum project for the first time.

Kishida: "The Annual Ring Museum is a museum themed around the 'striped soil' that was collected from a miraculous lake in Fukui Prefecture. The soil at the bottom of the lake is filled with stripes that represent the history of each season; from spring to autumn, dead plankton, and from late autumn to winter, yellow sand and iron. An astonishing 70,000 years of stripes remain. These stripes created by nature are called 'variable rings.' Other examples of variable rings include coral reefs, tree rings, and ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic, so we decided to displays these at the Annual Ring Museum.

First, I went to meet researchers in each field and collected various materials. At first, it was a project without a curator, so I sorted out the information and worked with customers and researchers to create a facility.”

Looking back, this experience at the Veiled Museum solidified Kishida's style as a planner.

Kishida: "Each planner has their own style. Some planners create a concept by saying, 'This is the concept,' and then leave the rest to the designer. But in my case, I like to digest even the most esoteric of things myself, and create them while drawing my own images of displays. I also mention specific concept design, and create them together with the designers, exchanging opinions with them on an equal footing, regardless of age or position. This project allowed me to find the core of my work, which is to enjoy trial and error and to exchange equal opinions with designers, regardless of age or position."

​The Tokushima Prefectural Museum project in 2021 is also impressive for Kishida.

Kishida: "In this project, we actively adopted what is known as inclusive concept design, which takes into consideration people with disabilities and foreigners. When creating displays, it is usually the case that the curator and displays company are the only ones involved. In this project, we held several inclusive concept design workshops where we designed together with people with disabilities and foreigners. There we made many discoveries that we would not have noticed on our own. We worked hard to create displays everyone could enjoy, regardless of whether they had a disability or not.

For example, when we proposed a text-filled explanatory text for people with hearing impairments, we received feedback from the hearing impaired that a short text length similar to the messages used on social media would be appropriate, so we devised a new way of writing it.We also discussed effective ways of displays together with people with visual impairments, communicating with them by having them actually touch displays.

When we create a facility, we think about and design concept design easily. However, there are some aspects that we cannot understand on our own, so we have various people experience it with us to see 'how it actually feels', in order to complete displays that can be communicated to many people."

I want to pursue the possibilities as a "place" that transcends the framework of the museum.

Kishida plans to continue to focus on the field of inclusive concept design.

Kishida: "For example, I think there are many new things we can do, such as thinking about displays that involve LGBTQ+ people, or people with developmental, intellectual, or mental disabilities. By incorporating inclusive concept design, we can arrive at displays that are easier to understand. I would like to broaden the scope of displays and create an appealing space.

I hope that we can incorporate inclusive concept design into all of our projects. To that end, I would be happy to create facilities together with various people from the local community. Building a museum is a lot of fun from an educational perspective. I hope to get many people involved in the process."

In recent years, the definition of a museum proposed by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) has changed. The definition added that museums should be “inclusive places” and “places where citizens can communicate and participate”. Kishida's vision is aligned with these two new definitions.

Kishida: I would like to actively adopt new methods without being bound by the conventional framework of museums. People are refraining from going out, and opportunities to meet people have decreased, but even in such times, museums convey the joy of interacting with people in real life. is providing value.

I believe that new and unknown things will continue to happen in the future. There will also be things that change culture and society completely. At such times, what kind of value can museums create in each era? With high expectations in mind, we will continue to work hard.”

Kishida pursues the possibilities of museums as a place. We will continue to build a new culture while conveying the charm of each region.