Tadao Ando Table of Contents Tadao Ando Biography Tadao Ando

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Tadao Ando Table of Contents
Tadao Ando Biography ............................................................................................................................................................ 1
Tadao Ando Information from the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) ................................................................................... 1
Tadao Ando Interview ............................................................................................................................................................. 2
Works ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Other Images......................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Tadao Ando Biography
Tadao Ando, born in 1941 is one of the most renowned contemporary Japanese architects.
Characteristics of his work include large expanses of unadorned architectural concrete walls
combined with wooden or stone floors and large windows. Active natural elements, like sun,
rain, and wind are a distinctive inclusion to his style. He has designed many notable buildings,
including Row House in Sumiyoshi, Osaka, 1976, which gave him the Annual Prize of
Architectural Institute of Japan in 1979, Church of the Light, Osaka, 1989, Pulitzer Foundation
for the Arts, St. Louis, 2001, Armani Teatro, Milan, 2001, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth,
2002 and 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT in Tokyo, 2007. Among many awards he has received are; Gold
Medal of Architecture, Academie d'Architecture (French Academy of Architecture) in 1989,
The Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995, Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in
2002, and Gold Medal of Union Internationale des Architectes in 2005. Ando is an honorary
member of the American Institute of Architects, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as
well as the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He was also a visiting professor at Yale, Columbia,
UC Barkley, and Harvard Universities.
Citation: "Biography Tadao Ando." Tadao Ando - Biography. Tadao Ando Architect &
Associates, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013.
Tadao Ando Information from the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)
Source: Oxford University Press
Japanese architect. Between 1962 and 1969 he travelled extensively, studying first-hand the architecture of Japan,
Europe, America and Africa. In 1969 he founded his own practice in Osaka. An inheritor of the Japanese anti-seismic
reinforced-concrete tradition, Andō became one of the leading practitioners in this genre. Capable of using fair-faced,
precision-cast reinforced-concrete walls to maximum effect, he created a uniquely minimalist modern expression, yielding
an architecture of very firmly bounded domains. He spoke of using ‘walls to defeat walls’, by which he meant deploying
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the orthogonal, strictly geometric volumes of his earlier work as a way of resisting the empirical, not to say random, chaos
of the average Japanese megalopolis. To this end most of his early houses are highly introspective; notable examples
include two houses in Sumiyoshi, Osaka: the award-winning, diminutive terraced Azuma House (1976) and the Glass
Block Wall House (1979), built for the Horiuchi family. The latter is a courtyard house that gains light and views solely from
its small internal atrium. The Koshino House (1981), built in the pine-wooded, upper-class suburbs of Ashiya (Hyōgo
Prefecture), takes a more open courtyard form, but again, as in all of Andō’s subsequent work, its subtle beauty stems
from the ever-changing impact of natural light on its concrete surfaces. As in the in-situ concrete Sōseikan tea house
added to the Yamaguchi House, Takarazuka (Hyōgo Prefecture), in 1982, Andō never alluded to the Japanese tradition
directly but always instead to the qualities of both half-muted and sharply contrasting light in which this tradition is steeped.
Andō’s later work opened up towards the surrounding landscape, particularly where he worked on sites graced with
spectacular views over mountainous escarpments and the ocean. This more expansive spirit runs as a continuous theme
in his architecture after 1983, the year in which he completed his stepped Rokko Housing, Kobe, reminiscent of Le
Corbusier’s Roy et Rob project of 1946. This new-found topographic poetic is patently evident in his Mt Rokko Chapel
(1986), Kobe, and in the later Chapel-on-the-Water and Chapel of Light (both completed between 1988 and 1990),
Ibaraki; in the latter a huge cruciform shape was cut out of the concrete wall behind the altar so that the morning sun
creates a cross of light. After completing more than 50 buildings in 15 years, Andō began to adopt a more public caste in
his work, as is evident from his Children’s Museum (1990), Hyōgo. At this juncture his strict geometry opened up a little,
admitting cylindrical forms and diagonal episodes in conjunction with the highly contoured sites on which he worked. Like
many other Japanese architects, Andō sought a synthesis between archaic values and modern technology. To this end,
eschewing fashionable form and ironic comment, he aspired to an architecture that would be as symbolic and laconic as
the traditional Japanese haiku form in poetry.
Kenneth Frampton
From Grove Art Online
Citation: Oxford University Press. "Tadao Ando (Japanese, Born 1941)." MoMA.org. Oxford University Press, 2009. Web.
09 May 2013. <http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=7055>.
Tadao Ando Interview
The Spirit of Modernism
Tadao Ando, the 2002 AIA Gold Medal winner,
talks about the craft, beauty and the culture of architecture
Interview by Robert Ivy
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Photograph © Kinji Kanno
Last month Architectural Record visited Tadao Ando, Hon. FAIA, in his office in Osaka, Japan, and talked with him about the
nature of architecture and creativity, and his view of architecture within a changing global landscape.
Architectural Record: How do you approach the problem of creating architecture?
Tadao Ando: You cannot simply put something new into a place. You have to absorb what you see around you, what exists on
the land, and then use that knowledge along with contemporary thinking to interpret what you see.
AR: What do you respond to from your own tradition that has some meaning for you and your work at this point in your life?
TA: When you look at Japanese traditional architecture, you have to look at Japanese culture and its relationship with nature.
You can actually live in a harmonious, close contact with nature—this very unique to Japan. Japanese traditional architecture is
created based on these conditions. This is the reason you have a very high degree of connection between the outside and inside
in architecture.
AR: You have taken the Modernist idiom for your architecture and made it your own. How do you see this language evolving?
TA: The logic of Modernism, you could say, is born from functionalism as we know it, but that’s only the beginning of what
Modernism is all about. Modernist architecture also has to deal with people. And people always relate to the spirit of the place, or
to the spirit of the time. Without this spirit, Modernist architecture cannot fully exist. Since there is often a mismatch between the
logic and the spirit of Modernism, I use architecture to reconcile the two.
AR: There are several themes in your work that are striking. For example, you conceive of space as a dark, heavy, and powerful
void.
TA: If you give people nothingness, they can ponder what can be achieved from that nothingness.
AR: Yet another theme in your work is the element of surprise. You take a path, which makes a turn, and you discover
something else.
TA: When I design buildings, I think of the overall composition, much as the parts of a body would fit together. On top of that, I
think about how people will approach the building and experience that space.
AR: You are constantly drawing. How has the computer modified your design process?
TA: When I draw something, the brain and the hands work together. My hand is the extension of the thinking process—the
creative process. The computer offers another kind of creativity. You cannot ignore the creativity that computer technology can
bring. But you need to be able to move between those two different worlds.
AR: It’s not fashionable to talk about beauty, but in looking at your buildings, I think about it. What is the role of beauty in your
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work?
TA: There is a role and function for beauty in our time. In Japan it may be translated into the concept of Uskuji, which also
means a beautiful life, that is, how a person lives––his or her inner life. It’s something beyond appearance, or what only meets
the eye. You can’t really say what is beautiful about a place, but the image of the place will remain vividly with you. People tend
not to use this word beauty because it’s not intellectual—but there has to be an overlap between beauty and intellect.
AR: You purposefully introduce intuitive, internal, or illogical elements into your work. These are very human attributes. Is this a
way of understanding and connecting to people?
TA: You’re absolutely right. It’s a way of relating the work to people.
AR: How does your architecture come to terms with the immense speed of change going on in the world now? For example, you
designed the Komyo-ji Temple in Saijo, Ehime, out of wood, which suggests impermanence. It seems like the Ise Shrine in Nara,
which is rebuilt every 20 years.
TA: The speed of change makes you wonder what will become of architecture. In the West there has always been the attempt to
try make the religious building, whether it’s a Medieval or Renaissance church, an eternal object for the celebration of God. The
material chosen, such as stone, brick, or concrete, is meant to eternally preserve what is inside. But in Japan, there’s nothing
like that, since the temple is made of wood. The divine spirit inside the building is eternal, so the enclosure doesn’t have to be.
Japanese architecture, therefore, allows you the freedom to express this concept. It’s a mistake to adhere to the stylistic
development of religious architecture of the past and try to imitate it.
AR: What about the role of craft in your work?
TA: The level of detail and craft is something that’s inscribed within the original design concept. And so when I begin to draw, I
know what kind of detailing I want the building to have.
AR: What do you see as the role of architecture in the world?
TA: We have to realize that the "age of discovery" has brought with it a disruption of the environment. Now architects are facing
the "age of responsibility." When you design and build something, you have to consider what you are taking away from the earth
or the environment in order to make something new. At the same time, I would add that the American people have a lot of
courage. This is embedded within the American spirit, the "frontier spirit." You always want to try to make something new, and, of
course, America is the world leader in economics today. I hope America can also be the cultural leader of the world, and use this
frontier spirit to lead and show others that we need courage to go places where we have not gone before.
If you look at the 1950s, you will notice that the modern world’s most representative architecture was created in the United
States at that time—such as the Seagram Building. And even before that, with the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center, you
can see that American society was interested in creating a culture of the future. But now, more and more, its society is
concerned with economy and finance. I hope that America as a whole, and especially its architects, will become more seriously
involved in producing a new architectural culture that would bring the nation to the apex—where it has stood before—and lead
the world.
Citation: Ivy, Robert. "Architectural Record | Interviews | Tadao Ando." Architectural Record | Interviews |
Tadao Ando. Architectural Record, 2013. Web. 09 May 2013.
<http://archrecord.construction.com/people/interviews/archives/0205Ando.asp>.
Works
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Tomishima House, Osaka
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197
Row House, Sumiyoshi - Azuma House, Osaka
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Koshino House, Ashiya, Hyogo
5
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Rokko Housing I, II（'93）, Kobe, Hyogo
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198
TIME'S I, Kyoto
4
198
Chapel on Mt. Rokko, Kobe, Hyogo
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Kidosaki House, Setagaya, Tokyo
198
Guest House OLD/NEW Rokko, Kobe, Hyogo
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Church on the Water, Shimukappu, Hokkaido
198
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Citation: "Church on the Water." MoMA.org. The Permissions Office of the Department of Imaging
Services, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A7055&page_number=
4&template_id=1&sort_order=1>.
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Citation: "Church on the Water, Tomamu, Elevation and plan, sketch." MoMA.org. The Permissions
Office of the Department of Imaging Services, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A7055&page_number=
5&template_id=1&sort_order=1>.
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Citation: "Church on the Water, Tomamu, Elevation and plan, sketch." MoMA.org. The Permissions
Office of the Department of Imaging Services, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A7055&page_number=
6&template_id=1&sort_order=1>.
198
Church of the Light, Ibaragi, Osaka
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Citation: "Church of the Light." MoMA.org. The Permissions Office of the Department of Imaging
Services, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013.
<http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O:AD:E:7055>.
Citation: "Church of the Light." MoMA.org. The Permissions Office of the Department of Imaging
Services, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A7055&page_number=
2&template_id=1&sort_order=1>.
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Citation: "Church of the Light." MoMA.org. The Permissions Office of the Department of Imaging
Services, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A7055&page_number=
3&template_id=1&sort_order=1>.
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Citation: Lee, Sanghyun. "Church of the Light 빛의 교회 :: Photographs by Sanghyun Lee 이상현."
Church of the Light 빛의 교회 :: Photographs by Sanghyun Lee 이상현. Sanghyun Lee, 2009. Web. 09
May 2013. <http://www.andotadao.org/chlight1.htm>.
Citation: Lee, Sanghyun. "Church of the Light 빛의 교회 :: Photographs by Sanghyun Lee 이상현."
Church of the Light Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Perfecture, Japan 빛의 교회 :: Photographs by Sanghyun Lee
이상현. Sanghyun Lee, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. < http://www.andotadao.org/chlight2.htm>.
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Citation: Sanghyun Lee 이상현." Church of the Light Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Perfecture, Japan 빛의 교회 ::
Photographs by Sanghyun Lee 이상현. Sanghyun Lee, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <
http://www.andotadao.org/chlight3.htm>.
Citation: Sanghyun Lee 이상현." Church of the Light Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Perfecture, Japan 빛의 교회 ::
Photographs by Sanghyun Lee 이상현. Sanghyun Lee, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <
http://www.andotadao.org/chlight4.htm>.
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Citation: Sanghyun Lee 이상현." Church of the Light Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Perfecture, Japan 빛의 교회 ::
Photographs by Sanghyun Lee 이상현. Sanghyun Lee, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <
http://www.andotadao.org/chlight6.htm>.
RAIKA Headquaters Building, Osaka
Children's Museum, Himeji, Hyogo
Museum of Literature, Himeji, Hyogo
199
1
Citation: Lee, Sanghyun. "Himeji City Museum of Literature 히메지 시립 문학관 :: Photographs by Sanghyun Lee
이상현." Himeji City Museum of Literature 히메지 시립 문학관 :: Photographs by Sanghyun Lee 이상현. Sanghyun
Lee, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <http://www.andotadao.org/litsouth1.htm>.
Water Temple, Awaji, Hyogo
199
Japan Pavilion Expo'92, Sevilla, Spain
2
Forest of Tombs Museum, Kaoh, Kumamoto
Benesse House Museum, Naoshima, Kagawa
Gallery for Japanese Screen, the Art Institute of Chicago, USA
199
College of Nursing, Art and Science, Akashi, Hyogo
3
VITRA Seminar House, Weil-am-Rhein, Germany
199
Chikatsu-Asuka Historical Museum, Kanan, Osaka
4
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Citation: "Chikatsa-Asuka Historical Museum, Osaka, Japan." MoMA.org. The Permissions Office of the
Department of Imaging Services, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A7055&page_number=
10&template_id=1&sort_order=1>.
Museum of Wood, Muraoka, Hyogo
Garden of Fine Art, Kyoto
Suntory Museum, Osaka
Nariwa Museum, Takahari, Okayama
199
Meditation Space, UNESCO, Paris, France
5
199
Oyamazaki Villa Museum, Oyamazaki, Kyoto
6
199
The Yokogurayama Natural Forest Museum, Ochi, Kochi
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House in Chicago, USA
199
TOTO Seminar House, Awaji, Hyogo
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Daylight Museum, Hino, Shiga
199
Shell Museum of Nishinomiya City, Hyogo
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200
Awaji-Yumebutai, Awaji, Hyogo
0
Komyo-ji Temple, Saijo, Ehime
FABRICA（Benetton Communications Research Center）, Treviso, Italy
200
ARMANI/TEATRO, Milan, Italy
1
Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, USA
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Sayamaike Historical Museum, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka
Shiba Ryotoro Memorial Museum, Higashi-Osaka, Osaka
Citation: Lee, Sanghyun. "Shiba Ryotaro Memorial 료타로시바 기념관 :: Photographs by Sanghyun Lee
이상현." Shiba Ryotaro Memorial 료타로시바 기념관 :: Photographs by Sanghyun Lee 이상현.
Sanghyun Lee, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <http://www.andotadao.org/ryotaro1.htm>.
Citation: Lee, Sanghyun. "Shiba Ryotaro Memorial Museum, Higashi-Osaka-shi, Osaka Perfecture,
Japan. 료타로시바 기념관 :: Photographs by Sanghyun Lee 이상현." Shiba Ryotaro Memorial
료타로시바 기념관 :: Photographs by Sanghyun Lee 이상현. Sanghyun Lee, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013.
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<http://www.andotadao.org/ryotaro2.htm>.
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe, Hyogo
200
2 Citation: Lee, Sanghyun. "Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art 효고현립미술관 :: Photographs by
Sanghyun Lee 이상현." Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art 효고현립미술관 :: Photographs by Sanghyun
Lee 이상현. Sanghyun Lee, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <http://www.andotadao.org/hmuseum2.htm>.
Citation: Lee, Sanghyun. "Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art 효고현립미술관 :: Photographs by
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Sanghyun Lee 이상현." Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art 효고현립미술관 :: Photographs by Sanghyun
Lee 이상현. Sanghyun Lee, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <http://www.andotadao.org/hmuseum3.htm>.
Citation: Lee, Sanghyun. "Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art 효고현립미술관 :: Photographs by
Sanghyun Lee 이상현." Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art 효고현립미술관 :: Photographs by Sanghyun
Lee 이상현. Sanghyun Lee, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <http://www.andotadao.org/hmuseum4.htm>.
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Citation: Lee, Sanghyun. "Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art 효고현립미술관 :: Photographs by
Sanghyun Lee 이상현." Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art 효고현립미술관 :: Photographs by Sanghyun
Lee 이상현. Sanghyun Lee, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013. <http://www.andotadao.org/hmuseum5.htm>.
The International Library of Children's Literature, Ueno, Tokyo
Nishida Kitaro Museum of Philosophy, Kahoku, Ishikawa
Piccadilly Gardens Regeneration, Manchester, UK
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, USA
200 Noma Kindergarten, Ito,
3 Shizuoka
4 x 4 House, Kobe, Hyogo
200 Chichu Art Museum,
4 Naoshima, Kagawa
Langen Foundation /
Hombroich, Neuss,
Germany
200 hhstyle.com/casa, Shibuya,
5 Tokyo
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Iwaki Museum of Picture
Books for Children, Iwaki,
Fukushima
Omotesando Hills
(Omotesando Regeneration
Project), Shibuya Tokyo
Palazzo Grassi Renovation,
Venice, Italy
200 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT,
7 Roppongi, Tokyo
200 Interfaculty Initiative in
8 Information Studies ・
Fukutake Hall, the University
of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo
Tokyu Toyoko Line Shibuya
Station, Shibuya, Tokyo
200 Punta della Dogana
9 Renovation, Venice, Italy
Other Images
Citation: "Biography Tadao Ando." Tadao Ando - Biography. Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, 2009. Web. 09 May 2013.