PORTADA

Vi si o naries

TA D A O A N D O

Life of a creator

“If you give people

nothingness, they can
ponder what can be
achieved from that
n o t h i n g n e s s.”

2
TA DAO
A N D O
Visionaries

Published by Andrea Ramírez

Copyright © by Andrea Ramírez

All rights deser ved. Published in the United States

by Andrea Ramirez, a division of Random House. Inc, New York,

www.randomhouse.com

Visionaries and the colophone are registered trademarks

of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication data

Ramírez, Andrea [date]

Includes bibliographical references

ISBN 978-0-307-59559-1

Jacket Design by Andrea Ramírez

Manufactured in Monterrey, Mexico

First Edition.
INDEX

8. Early life

13. Impression

14. Inspiration

23. Wo r k & D e s i g n

28. References
THE SPEED OF CHANGE
M A K E S YO U WO N D E R
W H AT W I L L B E C O M E O F
ARC HITECTURE.
 E A R LY
LIFE

T a d a o A n d o was born in 1941 in

Osaka, Japan. Growing up in that city
as Japan recovered prom the war, Tadao
Ando spent the most of time out of
doors, and was raised by his grandmoth-
er, whose name was “ando”.
His studying was very unusual. Tadao
Ando took a number of visits to the
United States, Europe and Africa in the
period between 1962 and 1969. It was
certainly at that time that Tadao Ando
began to form his own ideas about ar-
chitectural design, before founding
Tadao Ando Architectural & Associates
in Osaka in 1969.

8
9
 I WA S N E V E R A G O O D
S T U D E N T. I A LWAY S
PREFERED LEARNING
T H I N G S O N M Y OW N
OUTSIDE OF CL ASS.
I WA S S T U DY I N G
A R C H I T E C T U R E BY G O I N G
T O S E E AC T UA L B U I L D I N G ,
AND READIN G BOOKS
ABOUT THEM.
His first interest in architecture was
nourished in tadao’s 15 by buying a book
of Le Corbusier sketches. “I traced the
drawings of his early period so many
times, that all pages turned black,” says
Tadao Ando: “in my mind I quite often
wonder how Le Corbusier would have
thought about this project or that.”
Tadao Ando took a number of visits
to the United States, Europe and Africa
in the period between 1962 and 1969.
It was certainly at that time that Tadao
Ando began to form his own ideas about
architectural design, before founding
Tadao Ando Architectural & Associates
in Osaka in 1969. Tadao Ando ‘s winner
of many prestigous architectural awards,
for example Carlsberg Prize, Pritzker
Prize, Praemium Imperiale, Gold Medal
of Royal Institute of British Architects
and now is one of the most highly re-
spected architect in the world.
11
12
IMPRESSION

The first impression of his architecture is its

M AT E R I A L I T Y.
His large and powerfull walls set a limit.

A second impression of his work is the

TAC T I L I T Y.
His hard walls seem soft to touch, ad

Third impression is the

EMPTINESS.
Only light space surround the visitor in
Tadao Ando ‘s building.

13
 I N S P I R AT I O N
Other things that had influenced his work
and vocabulary of architecture is the pan-
theon in Rome and “enso”, which is mys-
terious circle drawn by zen-budhists and
symbolizing emptiness, loneliness, one-
ness and the moment of englightment.
The circle and other rigorous geometri-
cal forms are the basic forms of Tadao
Ando‘s art presentation. This mentioned
building was a simple block building, in-
serted into a narrow street of row houses.

14
The whole object space is divided into a
three equal rectangular spaces, while the
central part is atrium. The space nearest the
doorway contains the living room at ground
level, and the bedroom above. The last final
space contains the kitchen and bathtroom
below, and the master bedroom above.
Build in the wooden residential area above
the port city of Kobe.
The Koshino House, second realisation of
Tadao Ando, was completed in two phrases.

15
 This house is a masterpiece, and collects
all fragments of Tadao Ando ‘s archi-
tectonical vocabulary, mainly the light.
All Tadao Ando ‘s work is character-
istically simple, and we can find similar
forms in the first half of 20th century:
“I am interested in a dialogue with the
architecture of the past”, Tadao Ando
says, “but it must be filtered through my
own vision and my own experience. I
am indebted to Le Corbusier and Lud-
wig Mies van der Rohe, but the same
way, I take what they did and interpret
it in my own fashion.”
One of the first projects to bring inter-
national attention to Tadao Ando was his
Rokko Housing I. (Kobe, Hyogo, 1981-
83), which is situated much further down
the slope of the Rokko Moutains than the
Koshino house, this complex is wedged
into a restricted site on a south-facing 60
degrees slope. Why was this monumental
resident building so successful ? “ I think
architecture becomes interesting when it
has a double character, that is, when it is
as simple as possible but, at the same time
as complex as possible

16
17
1
Ando designs independent of any movement or school of architecture, responding
instead to his own inner vision. The key elements of his work are

WA L L S , L I G H T & W I N D

He fashions enclosing geometric walls

of thick concrete to create powerful and
satisfying interiors that provide a private
zone for the individual against the chaos
of urban forces. He uses glass and the play
of light and wind within his structures to
bring the calming aspects of nature inside.
His architecture flows from inside to out-
side, across levels, and through space.

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SUCH THINGS AS LIGHT
A N D W I N D O N LY H AV E
MEANING WHEN THEY
ARE INTRODUCED INSIDE
A HOUSE IN A FORM CUT
OFF FROM THE OUTSIDE
WO R L D .
22
WORK &
DESIGN

Tadao Ando ‘s most remarkable works

are certainly the religious buildings. “I
feel that the goal of most religious is
similar, to make men happier and more
at ease with themselves. I see no con-
tradiction in my designing christian
churches. “ Tadao Ando has build a
number of christian chapels and other
places of religion and contemplation.
One of the most amazing church is
also one of his simplest. The church of
the light (Baraki, Osaka, 1988-89) is lo-
cated in a residential suburb 40 km to
the north-east of the center of Osaka.
It consists from a rectangular concrete
box crossed at 15 degrees angle by free-
standing wall.

23
24
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. The architect’s
buildings are often characterized by
complex three-dimensional circulation.
These paths interweave between in-
terior and exterior spaces formed both
inside large-scale geometric shapes and
in the spaces between them. His “Row
House in Sumiyoshi”, a small two-story,
cast-in-place concrete house completed
in 1976, is an early Ando work which
began to show elements of his charac-
teristic style. It consists of three equally
sized rectangular volumes: two enclosed
volumes of interior spaces separated
by an open courtyard. By nature of the
courtyard’s position between the two in-
terior volumes.
The designs for Rokko Housing One
and for Rokko Housing Two illustrate a
range of issues in the traditional architec-
tural vocabulary—the interplay of solid
and void, the alternatives of open and
closed, the contrasts of light and darkness.

25
 YO U C A N AC T UA L LY L I V E
I N A H A R M O N I O U S , C LO S E
C O N TAC T W I T H N AT U R E .
 R E F E R E N C E S

9. Tadao Ando, profile, (Wikipedia)

11. Tadao Ando, picture, (andotadao.org)

12. 4x4 House, (architect biography)

14. Museum (Design Boom)

18. Tada Ando, profile (Design Boom)

22. Church of Light (Wikipedia)

24. Water Temple (Great Buildings)

28
 Printed from handset Centaur in an edition of 530 copies. Two copies are on handmade white

paper, bond and signed by the author. The fonts in the book are Futura Medium and Garamond.

Printed by Andrea Ramírez Sabat at Imprento in Monterrey México.

November 2011

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T I M E L E S S
U N I V E R S A L
 VISIONARIES | TADAO ANDO

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