The Art Museum & Library Ota, Japan

Today I went to run some errands and decided to stop by the library to do some studying, but due to these covid times, the main area (the one with all the books) was closed. Nonetheless, the coffee shop on the base-floor was open and I hopped in for a drink and studied for about an hour and a bit. Unfortunately, taking photos of the interior is prohibited.

After I did some studying I decided to take some photos of this magnificent structure that is the The Art Museum and Library, Ota. The building was erected about 4 years ago and it sure does give the surroundings a facelift. The structure boasts an art gallery which has new exhibitions regularly, a cafe, study room, a huge library, and a roof space which is used to host events and also makes a good viewing point of the city.

The first thing that catches your eyes when you see this structure is all the glass from floor to ceiling. That along with curves gives the library a modern feel and is inline with the art gallery it hosts.

In the warmer months, the grounds of the facility transforms into a Marche of madness with food stalls, accessory shops, live music as well as promotional giveaways from some of the city’s finest companies. The town is also home to Subaru and its main office are right across the street.The library is the first phase of a longterm development plan to rebuild the center of the town which also hosts the main train station. It also got a facelift in recent times.

This area you are seeing below is the cafe. As you can see it also has outdoor seating but with temperatures falling to as low as -2 degrees celsius in recent days, no one in their right mind would sit out there.

Interestingly you would think the cover photo was where the main entrance to the building would be, but it’s not. The main entrance is in the photo below. But because most of the traffic to the building would be coming from the station 🚉, there is a side entrance which leads right into the cafe, which leads into the library. The designer decided to to make the most aesthetically appealing view point be from the point of view of individuals, coming from the train station and I think they made the right choice.

From the cafe on the first floor or the library on the second, one can access the roof space. The interesting thing about this roof space is that it has a lounge area which can also be used for reading or relaxing. Surrounding that, are layers of lawns with higher levels which can be accessed via stairs. Kids enjoy going up there and I can imagine they had the idea to build a mini playground but thought about it as a general area to use as your imagination pleases. Again, no access ⛔️ today, thanks to omicron scares.

Here is the side entrance leading into the cafe and going towards the station.To the right you can see the train station’s north entrance pickup area.

If you zoom in on the picture below you can get a feel of how the library looks. They have ball cushion seats placed by the window. Believe me, inside is just as remarkable as the outside, maybe even more so.

Another interesting thing about this library is that going to the second floor that blends into a third floor, is at first a uphill slant that you can actually observe from the picture below. Leading onto the third floor has some stairs that look straight out of a Harry Potter film.