08/15: Naoshima
Bubble Bike Shelter by SANAA

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At the Honmura ferry pier on Naoshima Island, we encountered a small bicycle shelter designed by SANAA. After the “museum of museums” built by Ando, this modest structure was a delight. Light filtered softly through its fibreglass skin, a luminous counterpoint to Ando’s heavy, opaque concrete—a reminder of SANAA’s sensitivity to atmosphere and lightness.

What struck us most was how the shelter embraced the daily mess: bicycles leaned casually, things out of place, ordinary rhythms folding into its design. Unlike the monumental museums, this was architecture that didn’t demand reverence. Instead, it welcomed play in the everyday.