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Ground
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BUILT TO BE READ.
Sendai Mediatheque — Toyo Ito & Associates
LEARN MORE
Competition1995
Completed2001 (opened January)
LocationJōzenji-dōri, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Plan50 × 50 m, 7 floors above grade, 2 below
Structure13 steel-lattice tubes (ø approx. 2–9 m) carrying flat steel floor plates. No columns, no beams.
SkinDouble-skin glass on the south façade

Ito reduced the building to three elements: plates, tubes, skin. The plates are steel sandwiches welded like a ship's hull. The tubes are woven from steel pipe and carry the floors, the light, the air and the stairs. The skin is glass, so the building is read as a section rather than an elevation.

In March 2011 the Tōhoku earthquake shook Sendai for six minutes. Ceiling panels on the seventh floor came down. The structure did not move.

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Sequence 02 · Descent ALT 1,200 km
Target 38.2682° N  140.8694° E
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Japan
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7F
STUDIO
建物を、手のなかに。
THE BUILDING,
IN YOUR POCKET
It keeps count — now it shows you around. Live floors, loans and events, plus GPS wayfinding that walks you through the tubes to any shelf, gallery or seat.
FREE · IOS 17+ / ANDROID 13+ · SENDAI, JP
Sendai Mediatheque app — wayfinding to 6F, Gallery 4200
WAYFINDING · 6F — GALLERY 4200 · 42 M
Live · 02 · リアルタイム
Watch the building,
live.
Loans, visitors, floors and events — every number on this page is moving.
SEE FULL DETAILS
SIMULATED FEED · DEMOSENDAI --:--:-- JST ●
Books on loanNOW
1,482
+38 vs yesterday · capacity 9,200
Loans todayBY HOUR
316
returns 289 · overdue 41
In the buildingEST
428
AV library sessions 23
peak today 612 · 14:20
Floor occupancy
Most borrowed24H
Events today1 LIVE
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COMMUNITY.
Talks, screenings, open archives and the people who keep this building alive — wherever you are.
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Sendai Mediatheque
Ito ToyoSINCE 2001Sendai, JP
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