“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.”
-Tadao ando
Tadao Ando is a Japanese autodidact architect, who is at the pinnacle of success in his own country, as well as rising as a cultural force in the world. Tadao Ando,born on 13 September 1941, whose approach to architecture and landscape is categorized by architectural historian Francesco Dal Co as “critical regionalism”.
EDUCATION
- Struck by the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Imperial Hotel on a trip to Tokyo as a second-year high school student, he eventually decided to end his boxing career less than two years after graduating from high school to pursue architecture. His response towards the building was truly emotional.
- Similarly, He says “I was never a good student, I always preferred learning things on my own, outside of class” and that’s exactly how he perceived architecture as well. When he was about 18, he started to visit temples, shrines, and tea houses in Kyoto and Nara. There’s a lot of great traditional architecture in the area. He was studying architecture by going to see actual buildings, and reading books about them.
- Likewise, He made study trips to Europe and the United States in the sixties to view and analyze great buildings of western civilization, keeping a detailed sketch book which he does even to this day when he travels.
- He attended night classes to learn drawing and took correspondence courses on interior design.Similarly,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 to establish his own design studio, Tadao Ando Architects and Associates.
INFLUENCES:
- Ando’s work is strongly inspired by Danish design culture.
Simplicity, functionality, and elegance – these are the basic aspects of Danish design
- His work embodies the Japanese tradition of living simply and in harmony with nature
- Nature is often part of the inspiration, and sustainability is key.
Tadao Ando says, “ the difference between my architecture and western architecture lies in understanding the nature, we japanese accept the nature and live in harmony with it western people try to protect themselves from nature”
- Modernist Influences: The 1960s marked the continuation and evolution of Modernist architecture, which emphasized simplicity, functionality, and the use of new materials like concrete and steel. Ando’s exposure to and engagement with Modernist principles likely influenced his own design ethos, particularly his focus on clean lines and geometric forms.
- Ando spent his childhood making models of ships and airplanes, he has been interested in shape of structure as well as form of nature
- As a kid Tadao watched how trees grew, altered by how sun hit them, changing the qualities of lumber
STYLE
- Three parts of impression of design:
The first impression of his architecture is its materiality. His large and powerful walls set a limit. A second impression of his work is the tactility. His hard walls seem soft to touch, admit light, wind and stillness. Third impression is the emptiness, because only light space surrounds the visitor in Tadao Ando’s building.
- The spaces he designed are invariably poised between abstract and concrete, artifice and nature, myth and reason, ordinary and symbolic, simplicity and complexity.
- Tadao body of work is known for the creative use of natural light and for structure that follows natural form of the landscape, rather than disturbing the landscape by making it conform to the constructed space of building
- Light is used as a material, in order to give strength, life, personality to the project.
- 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.
- Tadao’s buildings are often characterized by a three dimensional circulation path. These paths weave in between interior and exterior space and form inside a large-scale geometric shape.
Critical regionalism
Critical regionalism is an approach to architecture that strives to counter the placelessness and lack of identity of the International Style, but also rejects the individualism and ornamentation of Postmodern architecture. The stylings of critical regionalism seek to provide an architecture rooted in the modern tradition, but tied to geographical and cultural context.
An excellent example of critical regionalism as portrayed by Ando is the Benesse House in Naoshima, Japan.It is an ultra modern structure still having such a close relationship with its geography and nature It is in the application of this modern structure that Ando pays tribute to the region and the history that goes with it. Furthermore, there is a sense of calmness and simplicity that is seen in the architecture, Ando tried creating a relationship between the built mass and its surroundings.
WORKS
- THE CHURCH OF LIGHT:
Rectangular shaped main building is punctured by a wall at 15 degrees, which is free from other walls and ceiling, Controlling the flow of people in and out. The amount of light let into the chapel is controlled by keeping the no of openings minimum which intensifies the light from the cross.
- CHICHU ART MUSEUM:
Keeping the harmony between man and nature in mind, Ando built most of this museum underground to avoid impacting the naturally beautiful scenery of the Seto Inland Sea that borders the island.
- SIDDHARTHA CHILDREN AND WOMEN’S HOSPITAL:
The pool is splitted by a staircase that leads down to the temple, the inner sanctuary. Visitors transitioning from the bright lotus pond to the dimly lit interior symbolize a journey from the material to the spiritual realm, reflecting Ando’s belief that architecture should foster introspection and spiritual reflection through experiential design.
Built in 1999 in Butwal,the shape of the hospital building is simple, rectangular form, with an hierarchical interplay between multiple cuboids
Unlike his other works this hospital is not constructed in exposed concrete instead with exposed red bricks, which is more typical to the local environment and follows critical regionalism.
CONCLUSION:Tadao Ando is truly an inspiring architect who is capable of turning a simple building form to have such an elegant view. His play of light and shadow, discovery of materials, blend of landscape and structure, and practicality are his ornaments of design. In Spite of being a self educated architect, he has obviously mastered the skills required for being a successful architect and has been blessing the world with aesthetic and wonderful landmark.
