A subtle handling of light, an innate sense of form and space - some of the trademark touches that make Taniguchi Yoshio's architecture special are at the same time often the most difficult for people to grasp, and the easiest to overlook.

By avoiding sensationalism and self-important grand statements, his architecture has also, by extension, largely avoided grabbing the headlines. Not that Taniguchi is worried. He has earned a career's worth of attention since scooping the architectural commission of the century - the renewal of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York.

Taniguchi's vision is currently under the microscope at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery in Hatsudai. "Museums by Yoshio Taniguchi" is based on an exhibition that opened at the MOMA at the end of last year. While nine museums were the subject of MOMA's show, these have been supplemented by three more exhibits for the Tokyo exhibition. All the building projects featured are museums in Japan except for the centerpiece of the exhibition - Taniguchi's design for the re-furbished MOMA.

Materials documenting the new-look MOMA, the project that forced Taniguchi into the international spotlight, take up one of Tokyo City Art Gallery's two first-floor rooms.

Panel displays, models and texts tell the stories of both MOMA's spasmodic development since its founding in 1929 and also the contest for its renovation and expansion - the highest profile, and most sought after, architectural project so far this century.

Ten architects were invited to offer presentations on their vision for the future MOMA, which is the world's first museum dedicated to Modern Art, and in many ways the authority on the subject.

On Taniguchi winning the commission, there was disappointment in some quarters that the museum did not choose a more flamboyant architect with a revolutionary design that would put the MOMA firmly on the map. Taniguchi was virtually unknown outside Japan at that time and his ideas for MOMA were considered quiet, as much of his work perhaps is, and uninteresting, which it certainly is not. However his plan impressed the selection committee, who were looking less for a statement-making monumental design than a plan that both unites the various buildings of the site and shows a deep understanding of MOMA's history.

Herzog and De Meuron may have had the fashionable name value, and Rem Koolhas a beautiful glass tower, but Taniguchi had the most well thought-out plan and therefore clinched the commission. Not only did he show an understanding of the museum's needs, but had picked up on details that even the museum staff hadn't considered.

One of Taniguchi's key contributions was relating the museum space to the surrounding New York cityscape. Photographs on the walls of Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery and a short video presentation portray various views of MOMA's interior, while the strong-willed and serious can leaf through detailed architectural plans and a whole spread of press cuttings on the refurbished museum's opening.

In contrast to the enclosed white cubes of the previous design, Taniguchi's glass walls offer plenty of vantage points to view the city that MOMA has become such an integral part of. This innovation brings the city into the very fabric of the building, constantly reminding viewers that it is a New York museum.

Taniguchi's ability to express a building's relationship to its environment informs many of his buildings, as can be seen in the other museums introduced in the second room of the exhibition.

Before being shown any paintings by the artist Higashiyama Kaii, on entering the first floor of the museum in Nagano Prefecture that bears his name the eyes of visitors are led across the artificial pond to a view of the surrounding landscape that inspired the artist. Only then, once the special context of the artist's works has been established in the viewer's mind, are they shown the paintings themselves, a collection of 700 works displayed on the second floor.

The integration of a water garden or pond into the grounds of his museums is a trademark Taniguchi touch that pops up in a number of other projects on display in the exhibition. These are often conceived as places of contemplation, and a way to still the mind to enhance the museum experience.

Water also takes a major part in another kind of museum here - an aquarium in Tokyo bay - which Taniguchi conceived in such a way that it would complement its surrounding environment unobtrusively.

With Tokyo Sea Life Park, Taniguchi restricted the size of the building to a small dome, minimizing the intrusion of the aquarium on the surrounding landscape. A pond situated outside links the aquarium to the nearby sea both conceptually and visually - viewed from ground level the pond seems to merge imperceptibly into the ocean. This mirage is punctuated by the tops of sails poking out from the restaurant's outdoor seating area below. The sails have been included in the overall design to link the building to the area's maritime history. Inside the aquarium, the locating of the tanks below ground level ensures that the aquatic life is kept at somewhere near natural sea level, maintaining a harmonious balance between sea and land.

His conception of Shiseido Art Museum in Kakegawa, however, takes inspiration from a more modern source - the streamlined Shinkansen (bullet train), whose tracks pass by the building and whose windows offer visitors to the city their first view of the museum.

Taniguchi echoes the aerodynamic curves of the Shinkansen train in the fluid arc of the museum's facade of glass and porcelain tiles. This curved wall contrasts with a square enclosure at the side of the building, a kind of playfulness typical of Taniguchi who in other projects plays off the differences in shape, texture and materials.

In fact, Taniguchi is a master of materials, often using the finest whenever possible. This is one of the few aspects of his work that the exhibition cannot fully convey as there is no substitute for going to the sites themselves. "Museums by Yoshio Taniguchi" will no doubt inspire visitors to do just that.