Timeless continuity. Sensoji Treasure Museum by ATTA

The architecture practice ATTA - Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects has designed the Sensoji Treasure Museum to preserve and display the sacred treasures of Sensoji Temple, one of Tokyo's most iconic landmarks, founded in 628.

Construction of this new horizontal structure, elevated above the ground, is scheduled for completion in 2028, coinciding with the temple's 1400th anniversary. The temple receives millions of visitors annually.

Rendering. Sensoji Treasure Museum by ATTA.

For the Sensoji Treasure Museum, ATTA - Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects envisioned a horizontal space dedicated to gatherings and festivals, raised above the ground, with a perimeter corridor that serves as a stage and connects daily life with ritual.

The project explores the harmonization of the essential tension between the sacred and the open through architecture, with a facade of meticulously hand-carved red arabesques that creates a timeless continuity.

Rendering. Sensoji Treasure Museum by ATTA.

Project description by ATTA - Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects

Connecting Everyday Life with Ritual
Founded in 628, Sensoji Temple is of major historical significance and stands as one of Tokyo’s most iconic landmarks. It welcomes approximately 30 million visitors each year and will celebrate its 1,400th anniversary in 2028, and a new museum is planned to preserve and present its sacred treasures.

A horizontal volume rises above the ground, creating a space dedicated to gatherings and festivals. A peripheral corridor acts as a stage, connecting everyday life with ritual.

Maqueta. Museo del Tesoro de Sensoji por ATTA. Fotografía por Frans Parthesius. — Model. Sensoji Treasure Museum by ATTA. Photograph by Frans Parthesius.

This project explores how architecture can harmonize the essential tension between "sacredness" and "openness." The façade, characterized by remarkable red arabesque patterns, is meticulously hand-carved and embodies a sense of timeless continuity.

Rendering. Sensoji Treasure Museum by ATTA. Image by RSI.studio.

Model. Sensoji Treasure Museum by ATTA. Photograph by Frans Parthesius.

Poster. Sensoji Treasure Museum by ATTA.

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Architects

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ATTA - Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects. Lead architects.- Tsuyoshi Tane.

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Dates

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Project.-2026.
Construction underway for a 2028 debut.

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Location

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2-3-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0032, Japan.

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Photography

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Frans Parthesius.

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Rendering

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ATTA - Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects, RSI.studio.

Tsuyoshi Tane

Tsuyoshi Tane was born in Tokyo, Japan (1979), and founded ATTA – Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects in Paris in 2017 after co-founding DGT Architects in 2006 together with architects Dan Dorell and Lina Ghotmeh. He graduated in 2002 from Tokai University in Hokkaido, Japan, and completed a postgraduate programme at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2003. In 2004, he joined David Adjaye Associates in London, England.

He is recognised as part of a generation of outstanding young architects, having been included in ICON magazine’s selection of “The 20 Essential Young Architects.” Tsuyoshi Tane believes that architecture belongs to the memory of a place, connecting its past with its future through his concept of “Archaeology of the Future.”

In 2008, DGT received the NAJAP award granted by the French Ministry of Culture. In 2012, the Kofun Stadium project in Tokyo, conceived by the architectural trio, was shortlisted in the International Design Competition for the New National Stadium of Japan. In 2018, the monograph TSUYOSHI TANE Archaeology of the Future I was published. In 2022, he was named Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. In 2026, the exhibition Architecture Connecting II: Memoryscapes, Archaeology of the Future was presented at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 22 January to 17 May, coinciding with the publication of a new monograph.

Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the Grand Prix AFEX – French Architects Overseas (2016 and 2021), the Jean-Dejean Prize from the French Academy of Architecture, the New Albums of Young Architects and Landscape Designers Award (NAJAP 2007–2008) granted by the French Ministry of Culture, the Grand Prize of the Estonian Cultural Endowment, a nomination for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award in 2017, the 67th New Face Award of the Japanese Ministry of Education for Fine Arts, and the 67th Mainichi Design Award in 2021, among many others.

Since 2020, Tsuyoshi Tane has been a member of the committee of TOTO GALLERY·MA. He frequently delivers lectures and public talks and taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) in New York and Paris from 2012 to 2018. He is currently a visiting professor at Tama Art University.

Published on: September 6, 2026

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metalocus, ELVIRA PARÍS FERNÁNDEZ

"Timeless continuity. Sensoji Treasure Museum by ATTA" METALOCUS. Accessed

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