MoMA's architect has his Museum of Garbage in Hiroshima

Hiroshima lost a lot on that sultry morning of August 6, 1945. The city does not have traditional buildings like Kyoto, Nara, and other lucky cities that escaped air-raids performed by US forces when Japan was losing the war.

But it has the architecture only this devastated and obliterated city can have. I’m not talking about the A-bomb Dome, one striking witness and embodiment of Hiroshima’s destruction and resilience. Instead what I have in mind are a number of buildings which are in active operation.

Some suitable examples of this kind are the Peace Memorial Museum & Park designed by TANGE Kenzo and the Memorial Cathedral for World Peace by MURANO Togo, representing Hiroshima’s post-war reconstruction. Both of them are architecturally fascinating, have historical significance, and reveal human anecdotes that universally pull your heartstrings.

But the architecture I’d like to introduce to you in this article is more contemporary, yet paying due respect to the city’s history and natural settings. I’m so eager to take you there and in fact I’m now concocting a one-day tour of learning Hiroshima in depth through architecture.

The first destination of the tour I proudly announce is no other than the Naka Incineration Plant, a handsome waste treatment complex standing on the reclaimed triangular land next to the sea, designed by TANIGUCHI Yoshio, who enjoyed great critical acclaim by completing MoMA’s extension in 2004. In fact, the New York Times commended the new MoMA complex as "one of the most exquisite works of architecture to rise in this city in at least a generation."

Architecturally and functionally meaningful, the plant is located at the very end of Yoshijima-dori street. It stands where one of the six rivers flowing in the city meets the sparkling azure of the inland sea.

 

TANIGUCHI worked under TANGE in his youth and respected the urban axis of vista that his mentor created with the Peace Memorial Museum and the Park. He stretched the axis, on which the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, the Flame of Peace, and the A-bomb Dome are aligned, to the plant using Yoshijima-dori, though the street is not completely straight.

From the raised walkway called Ecorium are seen the Seto Inland Sea on one side and the urban sprawl on the other. Yoshijima-dori stretches to the north, eventually leading onto the premises of the Museum and the Park.

Here’s what TANIGUCHI had to say from the article he contributed to a July 2004 issue of an architectural magazine called SHINKENCHIKU.

This English translation done by me first appeared in the web site entitled arch-Hiroshima run by Makoto. Click here to jump to arch-hiroshima to see stylish pictures of the plant and read what web master Makoto has to say.

When I start working on the design, I try to visit as many structures of similar nature as possible. (snip) I saw many incinerator plants only attempting to hide what they were with various exterior designs. I, however, came to the conclusion that the exterior of the plant should be intentionally visible as an indispensable facility needed by contemporary cities and that the interior should be somehow public, which would help enhance the significance of the plant as an urban facility.

Architect TANGE, my mentor, designed the Hiroshima Peace Center in the Peace Memorial Park. Yoshijima Street starts there running toward the sea. The plant stands between the end of the street and the sea. That is, this site is right on the important axis of the city. It's in the middle of the sequence of two kinds of vistas, the city and the sea. So I decided to extend Yoshijima Street onto the premises to create a space leading the city to the sea. I had this idea in mind from the very early stage of designing.

The glass Ecorium (ecology + atrium) on the raised platform, grassy Ecoasis (ecology + oasis) on the ground along the inland sea, and the viewing gallery on the 6th floor are usually open to the public and accessible without permission.    

   

The plant tour is available free of charge if you apply ten days in advance of your visit. The inside is again enchanting. Hope I can be there with you.

 

The well-written article about this plant posted on the web site called Get Hiroshima operated by a couple from abroad (their mother tongue is English; and their web site is done in excellent English) gives you a very good picture of this place.

To read the article, click here.   



Three round chimneys for three respective refuse furnaces

are cased in this 59-meter-high rectilinear chimney.



Some of the eco-friendly secrets of the complex:

Air in the refuse pit is sent to the three furnaces and consumed there, containing foul odor inside the mechanism.

The flue gas is treated before being emitted into the atmosphere. The three giant wet scrubbers are part of the treatment system and remove HCI and Sox. They are visible through the glass. Tall and Sleek.

The plant generates 15,200 kilowatts of electricity from incineration heat when operating fully. This can power the whole plant and the surplus is sold to a local power company.

The plant heats up water by the heat from the furnaces and supplies it through underground pipes to an indoor swimming pool and a nursing facility for the aged in the vicinity.