The home of Osaka’s national art museum is entirely underground, yet the art experience begins at the entry pavilion. Soaring to 170 feet high, the lighting of the silvery, reed-like structure begins the exploration of themes to be discovered within the building: water, light and movement.

Additionally, the lighting was challenged to unify the museum’s irregularly-shaped spaces and complex internal architecture. Most dramatic is the way in which the lighting gives the impression that daylight penetrates deep into galleries located three floors below the earth’s surface.