D.T. Suzuki Museum

Location

Kanazawa, Japan

Architect

Yoshio Taniguchi

This set of images is from a personal shoot I captured at the D.T. Suzuki Museum in Kanazawa, Japan – a space I’ve long admired for its architectural clarity and meditative design.

Designed by Yoshio Taniguchi, the museum is a tribute to Zen philosopher Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, and it embodies the very qualities he wrote about – simplicity, stillness, and introspection. It’s one of those rare places where architecture feels like an extension of philosophy.

I visited on a crisp winter’s day and found the conditions near perfect – clean air, soft dappled light, and long shadows playing across the concrete and water. It made for an ideal environment to shoot in monochrome, stripping things back to form, light, and texture.

Rather than trying to document every angle, I approached the space slowly – focusing on moments that conveyed the museum’s quietude and its interplay between structure and landscape. Reflections, shadows, and negative space all played a part.

This wasn’t a commissioned project – just a chance to spend time with a piece of architecture that resonates deeply with me. And in many ways, that freedom helped shape a slower, more intuitive way of working that I’ve been trying to carry through into my commercial practice.

One of the images from this shoot was awarded Silver with Distinction at the NZIPP Iris Awards – a lovely recognition for a project that meant a lot on a personal level.