The Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo houses and displays the treasures of the historic Izumo Taisha Shrine, providing safe storage and exhibition spaces highlighting its valuable collection. The museum is sited on a generous 5.6 hectares adjacent to the Shrine’s eastern approach, blessed by the “borrowed landscape” of the nearby Kitayama Mountain Range. Its exterior is compact, with two overlapping folded roofs creating a dynamic skyline that blends with the surrounding landscape, in harmony with gently undulating gardens and the surrounding mountains. Visitor’s eyes are drawn from the roofs in the foreground, past the gentle undulations of the garden, and finally on to the placid mountains in the background. Corten steel on the exterior is reminiscent of historically important tatara iron manufacturing in Shimane - its textured deep surface creating a powerful contrast with the flat glass of the fully transparent entrance lobby.