Tadao Ando

1. TADAO ANDO. KOSHINO HOUSE
“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”
Figure 1： this photo indicates that how kosino house embedded to the site (archidaily,2011)
Koshino House is a house of veritable maze of light and shadow. Tadao Ando seeks to
reconcile the theory of international modernism with the Japanese Zen tradition and
landscape. Tadao Ando wants to make the inhabitant to feel the reminiscent of Ancient
Zen, but in the way of modern architecture. It is located on a mountainside which is densely
wooded, embedded in the ground to let the inhabitant to be immersed in nature.
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT. FALLING WATER
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”
Figure 2: it indicates that how Falling Water live with the waterfall

2. On the other hand, The Falling Water was created by Frank Lloyd Wright. He
strongly use organic architecture to create a strong engagement between building and
landscape, particularly in the importance of interpenetrating exterior and interior spaces
thus placing a strong emphasis placed on harmony between man and nature.
Both of the building uses modernism in architecture and strongly engage with the
nature to emphasize on the reunion of building and landscape by using totally different
structures but similar materials.
STRUCTURE & CONSTRUCTION
Figure 3: curve that added to the existing rectilinear bodies and the wall construction (Koshino House,nd)
Koshino House is organized into three independent volumes that contains two
parallel concrete rectangular bodies. The two different size of boxed are linked together
by an underground corridor and an opened courtyard. He emphasize on the volume of
concrete wall is because he wants to create a place for the individual. When the external
factors of a city’s environment require the wall to be without openings, the interior must be
especially full and satisfying.(Pritzkerprize,n.d.) The double-height volume living room was

3. the center core of the building and it shows the importance of this space compared to the
other spaces. Tadao Ando introduced a curve to the existing rectilinear bodies after
completing the construction. This crescent shape atelier is adjacent to the living room. It
creates a sharp contrast to the rigid compositions of the other two existing bodies. By
adding in a curved building, which was not originally planned, the addition seems to
complete the entire composition.(SFU,n.d.) The main structure of the Koshino House is
the fair faced concrete wall. The walls are constructed on a block-like grid and each block
having six exposed holes. The evenly spaced holes drilled into the concrete slabs to hold
the moldings board screws during construction. The hole also communicate a sense of
scale. The texture of the walls are unexpectedly smooth because of the added luminous
coating, contradicting the concrete’s toughness. Cause of the luminous coating on the
concrete wall, the fair face concrete structure are firm, tranquil and a bit mysterious.
Figure 4: showed the main cantilever of Falling Water (FallingWater,nd)
The basic structure of the Falling Water is the cantilever. The strong horizontal
and vertical lines are a distinctive feature of Falling Water. Wright uses an unusual
cantilever construction which allows him to place the houses on top of the waterfall. The
reason why it still remains famous is because the cantilever construction and reinforced

4. concrete building was not rarely used during that era.(Khanacademy,n.d.) During that era,
wood construction are not able to construct large cantilever on top of the Falling Water.
So, Wright chose to use reinforced concrete because it can span a long distance and
strong enough to carry the weight. Falling Water uses four main piers or bolsters for its
foundation, three of which are reinforced concrete with the fourth being stone masonry.
Four cantilevered beams project from these piers suspending the first floor out over the
stream. Concrete joists spaced on center span between the beams and transfer the first
floor loads to these cantilevers. To increase the strength of the cantilevered floor system,
an upside down T-shaped beams integrated into a monolithic concrete slab which both
formed the ceiling of the space below and provided resistance against compression. The
cantilevered portion of the second floor consists of two edge beams with joists and slab
spanning between them. Four steel T window mullions support the south end of the
second floor cantilever and transfer its load to the edge of the first floor
cantilever.(Failure,n.d.) Due to the lack of proper support, cracks began appearing in the
balcony floors soon after they were poured. To avoid a complete collapse, an ingenious
system was devised using tensioned cables to correct the problem and stabilize Wright’s
masterwork.

5. MATERIAL
Figure 5: indicates the uses of the materials in Koshino House (archdaily,2011)
The first impression of Tadao Ando’s architecture is his materiality. He define
concrete as the basic element of architecture, but it can be also very enriching. So, there
is no any irrelevant ornaments and embellishments can be found in the building. The
Koshino House fully utilize the fair face concrete and timber to create the solid and void.
He uses concrete as the wall, timber as the floor. In Koshino house, he created the
enclosed spaces mainly by means of thick concrete wall. His intent to not express the
nature of the material itself, but to use it to establish space. The ingenuity of Tadao Ando’s
walls surface lies in pattern. The reactiveness of the concrete produces the illusion of a
textile surface rather than presenting it as a heavy mass. Unlike how western architecture
present the concrete with its roughness, the way Tadao Ando uses concrete is to mold
them into light homogeneous surfaces. Ando use his own way to create his own aura of
the spaces. Besides, he uses wooden or slate floor as the floor, because timber is a very
fundamental material that represents the Japanese architecture. By using concrete wall
act as the cold factor and timber floor as warm factor. The inhabitant will have an

6. awareness and this aura will lead them to remember that human are soft and warm. In
addition, He created the Koshino house that combines concrete with timber as the reunion
of eastern and western architecture. This makes the inhabitant to feel the reminiscent of
Ancient Zen, but in the way of modern architecture but reserving the essenceof Traditional
Japanese architecture. Besides, a large rectangular panel windows with steel frames has
been opened in the living room hall which facing toward the stepped courtyard. The natural
light that reacting through the branches of the scattered tree is able to penetrate and bring
in the nature into Koshino House through the large panel window.
Figure 6: indicates that how the material used in Falling Water blends into landscape (learner,nd)
On the other hands, Wright was really inspired by Japanese architecture. Like
Japanese architecture, Wright wanted to create harmony between man and nature, and
his integration of the house with the waterfall was successful in doing so. Wright
incorporated with rock cuts into the living room to mentally bring in the waterfall into the
house. This action was perfectly connected and united the house with the earth. The
exterior of Falling Water carries out a strong horizontal pattern with the bricks and long
terraces.(Perez, A,2010) Wright also emphasized the connection with nature by using the
glass. Wright used a lot of clear glass to allow the outside to flow freely into the inside. At

7. certain times of day, the glass becomes very reflective and reminds some people of the
mirror-like surfaces of a calm pool of water. At night, the glass seems to
disappear.(Fallingwater,n.d.) The house has no walls facing the waterfall, only a central
stone core for the fireplaces and stone columns. This provides a perspective that leading
the inhabitant eye out to the horizontal line and the forest. Wright even bows to nature by
bending a trellis beam to accommodate a pre-existing tree. Besides, the concrete surface
appear soft ad warm because the pale ochre color of the concrete are able to match the
back of a fallen rhododendron leaf.
CONCLUSION
After analysing the structure, construction method and material of the Koshino
House and Falling Water, we can conclude that both of the building want to deliver the
same message, which is to make the inhabitant live and be immersed to the nature but
with different kind of spatial experience. Both master architect advocate the reunion of the
building and landscape, human and nature. To make it become part of their everyday life,
and not just to look at them now and then. Ando mainly uses light and shadow as the
medium that brings in the nature to the enclosed interior. But for Wright, he want to create
a series of open spaces by using clear glass as the wall surface to allow the surrounding
to flow freely into the interior of the house.

8. REFERENCE
 L, C. (n.d.). Koshino Slides. Retrieved June 6, 2015, from
http://www.sfu.ca/~ckl27/Portfolio/Design/Slides/KoshinoSlides.pdf
 Kabra, M. (2014, September 9). Koshino House by Tadao Ando - Architect Boy.
Retrieved June 6, 2015, from http://architectboy.com/koshino-house-tadao-ando/
 Metcalf, T. (2011, September 25). AD Classics: Koshino House / Tadao Ando.
Retrieved June 6, 2015, from http://www.archdaily.com/161522/ad-classics-
koshino-house-tadao-ando/
 Tadao Ando Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2015, from
http://www.pritzkerprize.com/1995/bio
 Fallingwater_Architecture. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2015, from
http://www.fallingwater.org/assets/Fallingwater_Architecture.pdf
 Background_On_Fallingwaters_Structure. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2015, from
http://www.fallingwater.org/assets/14_Background_On_Fallingwaters_Structure.p
df
 Perez, A. (2010, May 14). AD Classics: Fallingwater House / Frank Lloyd Wright.
Retrieved June 6, 2015, from http://www.archdaily.com/60022/ad-classics-
fallingwater-frank-lloyd-wright/
 Meek, T. (n.d.). Fallingwater. Retrieved June 6, 2015, from
https://failures.wikispaces.com/Fallingwater
 Khan Academy. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2015, from
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-
americas/modernity-AP/a/frank-lloyd-wright-fallingwater