Surrounded by large, verdant mountains, the Ehime Prefectural Science Museum in Niihama City of east Ehime Prefecture opened in November 1994. Five buildings in the spacious compound were designed by a world-famous Japanese architect, Kisho Kurokawa. The complex consists of a cone-shaped entrance hall which symbolises the mechanism of nature and the human mind pursuing science, a cubic exhibition hall, two crescent-shaped buildings that house restaurants and study rooms respectively, and a hemispherical planetarium. These buildings characterized by different geometric shapes and their exterior walls made of different materials create a semi-futuristic atmosphere. The Museum boasts a 30 metre-diameter planetarium, which is the largest in the world, on the huge dome of which over 25,000 stars can be projected at a time.