Tadao Ando is a Japanese architect whose approach to architecture was categorized by Francesco Dal Co as critical regionalism. Ando has led a storied life, working as a truck driver and boxer prior to settling on the profession of architecture, despite never having taken formal training in the field. He visited buildings designed by renowned architects like Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn before returning to Osaka in 1968 and established his own design studio, Tadao Ando Architect and Associates.
Tadao Ando is a Japanese architect whose approach to architecture was categorized by Francesco Dal Co as critical regionalism. Ando has led a storied life, working as a truck driver and boxer prior to settling on the profession of architecture, despite never having taken formal training in the field. He visited buildings designed by renowned architects like Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn before returning to Osaka in 1968 and established his own design studio, Tadao Ando Architect and Associates.
Ando has strong culture backgrounds in Japan, where he is raised and also currently stays. The Japanese religion and life style influenced him a lot in this design style in terms of architecture. His style in architecture is said to create “haiku” effect, and also emphasize the nothingness to represent the beauty of simplicity. Yet he likes to design architecture with complex spatial circulation while the appearance is simple. As a self-taught architect, he keeps his Japanese culture and language tightly in his mind while he travels around Europe for learning experience. As an architect, he believes that architecture can change the society–“to change the dwelling is to change the city and to reform society”. “Reform society” could be a promotion of a place or a change of the identity of that place. According to Werner Blaser, “Good buildings by Tadao Ando create memorable identity and therefore publicity, which in turn attracts the public and promotes market penetration” .
The simplicity of his architecture emphasizes the concept of sensation and physical experiences, mainly influenced by the Japanese culture. The religious term, Zen, focuses on the concept of simplicity and concentrates on the inner feeling rather than the appearance. The theory has vividly shown on Ando’s work and definitely become his style that distinguishes other outstanding architects in the world. In order to practice the idea of simplicity, Ando’s architecture is mostly constructed with concrete, which provides his architecture a sense of cleanness and weightiness at the same time. Due to the simplicity of the exterior, the construction and organization of the space are relatively potential in order to represents the aesthetic from sensation.
As an architect, Ando makes his architecture become a way for people to easily experience the spirit and the beauty of the nature through the architecture. He thinks architecture is responsible for performing the attitude of the site and then turning it into visible perceptions. This not only represents his theory of the role of architecture in the society but also shows the reason that he spends so much time studying architecture from his physical experience.
Tadao Ando’s body of work is known for the creative use of natural light and for architectures that follow the natural forms of the landscape (rather than disturbing the landscape by making it conform to the constructed space of a building). The architect’s buildings are often characterized by complex three-dimensional circulation paths. These paths interweave between interior and exterior spaces formed both inside large-scale geometric shapes and in the spaces between them.
Tadao is known for many works such as the Church of the Light, Osaka, 1989, the Water Temple, Awaji, 1991, the Azuma House,Sumiyoshi,1976, the Rokko Housing One, Rokko,1983, the Galleria akka, Osaka, 1988, the Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, 2003 and lots of more.
Born _September 13, 1941 (age 71), Minato-ku, Osaka, Japan
Nationality_Japanese
Awards
Alvar Aalto Medal, 1985
Pritzker Prize, 1995
RIBA Royal Gold Medal, 1997
AIA Gold Medal, 2002
Neutra Medal for Professional Excellence, 2012
Practice_Tadao Ando Architects & Associates