The prominent Japanese Architect, Tadao Ando, has completed a mesmerizing landscape architecture project for a cemetery close to Sapporo, Japan. The place has a giant Buddha sculpture that reaches up to a height of 13.5 meters. A landscape hill was designed to make the statue stand out and emphasize its magnitude.
The body of the statue is almost covered by the new structure, leaving only the head to be viewed from downhill. The visitors have to make their way through a 40 meter-long tunnel to reach the rotunda around Buddha and see its body.
“The design intention was to create a vivid spatial sequence, beginning with the long approach through the tunnel in order to heighten anticipation of the statue, which is invisible from the outside,” commented Tadao Ando in Domus Magazine. “When the hall is reached, visitors look up at the Buddha, whose head is encircled by a halo of sky at the end of the tunnel.”
Image by shigeo ogawa, via vitra
One more interesting fact about this project is that its look varies with the changing of the seasons throughout the year. The vivid green color prevails in summer and spring, while a thick layer of snow covers the area in winter. For more details about the Makomanai Takino Cemetery, you can check their online page.
