Tadao Ando is a Japanese architect known for his minimalist concrete designs that emphasize empty space and simplicity. Ando was strongly influenced by Japanese culture and religion in his emphasis on nothingness and haiku-like designs. He is a self-taught architect who believes architecture can reform society by changing how people live and the identity of places. Ando creates spaces that respond to human spirituality through the juxtaposition of solid concrete walls and natural light.

3. 1983-1999
Tadao Ando

4. He believed that the way people
live can be little directed by
architecture.
“ You cant really say what is
beautiful about a place, but the
image of the place remains vividly
within you..”

5. Church on the Water
Ashiya (1979-81)
Collezzione
Tokyo (1989)
Light Space Humanity
Koshino House
Ashiya (1979-81)

6. Meditation Space
UNESCO (1995)
Nature Sanctuary

7. Ando has a strong background in Japanese culture. He was
raised in Japan and lives there. Japanese religion and style
of life strongly influenced his architecture and design.
Ando's architectural style is said to create a "haiku" effect,
emphasizing nothingness and empty space to represent the
beauty of simplicity. He favors designing complex spatial
circulation while maintaining the appearance of simplicity. A
self-taught architect, he keeps his Japanese culture and
language in mind while he travels around Europe for
research. As an architect, he believes that architecture can
change society, that "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".

8. For Ando, Light is an architecture of duality – the dual
nature of [co]existence – solid/void, light/dark,
stark/serene. The coexisting differences leave the
church void of any, and all, ornament creating a pure,
unadorned space. The intersection of light and solid
raises the occupants awareness of the spiritual and
secular within themselves.

10. Walls, Light, Wind, Flow
Koshino House
Ashiya (1979-81)
Kidosaki House
Ashiya (1979-81)
Old/New Rokko
Restaurant
Kobe (1985-86)
Chikatsu-Asuka
Historical Museum
Osaka (1990-94)

11. International Library of
Children’s Literature
Tokyo (2002)
Pulitzer Foundation
for the Arts
St. Louis (1997-2001)

12. Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
St. Louis (1997-2001)

13. Rokko Housing
Kobe (1981-1983, 1985–1989)

14. Vitra Seminar House, Weil-am-Rhein (1989-93)
“What I have sought to achieve is a spatiality that
stimulates the human spirit, awakens the
sensitivity and communicates with the deeper
soul.” – Tadao Ando

15. Church on the Water
Hokkaido (1985-88)

16. Church on the Water
Hokkaido (1985-88)

17. Nariwa Museum
Nariwa (1992-1994)
The Modern Art Museum
Ft. Worth (2002)

18. Children’s Museum
Himeji (1987-89)

19. Light is the origin of all being. Light gives with each
moment new form to being and new interrelationship
to things and architecture condenses light to its most
concise being. The creation of space in architecture is
simply the condensation and purification of the power
of light.

20. “I do not believe architecture should speak too much.
It should remain silent and let nature in the guise of
sunlight and wind speak”
Creates spaces that respond to human needs and
spirit juxtaposing powerful concrete walls with light
and nature, deep sense of peace, simple materials and
geometry.