A warehouse museum called Archi-Depot, which exhibits about 250 architectural miniature models, recently opened in the Higashi-Shinagawa district in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo.

An architect proposed the museum concept so that as many people as possible can see these kinds of models, which usually end up being stored in warehouses.

A warehouse company offered a section of its facility, which has now opened to the public as a gallery.

It is the nation’s only museum specializing in architectural miniature models.

The museum opened on June 18 on the first floor of the head office of Warehouse Terrada, a company established in 1950.

Shelves line the gallery space, which covers about 450 square meters with a ceiling height of 5.2 meters.

Architects can lease shelf space to store their miniature models. Visitors can walk around between the shelves to look closely at the models, and are allowed to take photos.

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Yuta Tokunaga, 36, curator of the museum, explained the attractiveness of the miniature models, saying: “Visitors can see what was inside the minds of the architects. They contain the essence of architectural culture.”

People associated with the museum said that they did not organize any special publicity campaign when the museum opened. But the number of visitors, mainly students studying architecture, has been on the rise. One weekend, about 400 people visited the museum each day.