TADAO ANDO

PREPARED BY
ANJITHA
SRUTHI
 Born
September 13, 1941 (1941-09-13)
(age 70)
Osaka, Japan
 Nationality
Japanese
 Buildings
Art site naoshima
Church of the Light, Osaka, 1989
Water Temple, Awaji, 1991
 Projects
Rokko Housing I, II, III, Kobe, 1983-
1999
 A self-trained architect, Ando was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1941.

 He studied traditional Japanese architecture and traveled to the

United States, Europe, and Africa studying Western architecture and
techniques, and founded Tadao Ando Architect & Associates in
Osaka in 1969

 Combining modern Western architecture and the simple geometric

forms of traditional Japanese architecture, Ando has designed
museums, religious structures, and residential and commercial
buildings in Germany, Spain, Italy, and France as well as his native
Japan.

 In opposition to traditional Japanese architecture, Ando creates

spaces of enclosure rather than openness.

 He uses walls to establish a human zone and to counter the

monotony of commercial architecture. On the exterior, the wall
deflects the surrounding urban disorder, while on the interior it
encloses a private space.
 His concrete and glass buildings reflect, the modern progress
underway in both Japan and the world.
 Ando developed a radically new architecture characterized by the
use of unfinished reinforced concrete structures. Using a
geometric simplicity which reveals a richness in spatial
articulation, Ando has generated an architecture that shares the
quietness and clarity that characterize traditional Japanese
architecture.
CHURCH OF LIGHT ART SITE
NAOSHIMA

WATER TEMPLE
 CHURCH OF THE LIGHT
•Tadao Ando’s Church of the Light is
located in Ibaraki,northeast of Osaka

•The building can be described simply as a

bare concrete box with a wall cutting
through it at a 15 degree angle

•The heavy cast-in-place walls help

separate the religious experience inside
the small 113 square meter chapel from
the outside world.

•The demarcation between sacred and

profane is important on this site, which
does not permit much distance between
two streets and the church itself.

•Inside, the space is dominated by the

glowing cross at the end of the nave.
•The bare concrete walls have
no decorations that would
mitigate the experience.

•The simplicity creates an

isolated, severe feeling inside
the church

•The interior is perhaps

claustrophobic, with views to
the outside only available
through the 20 cm gap in the
concrete wall that is the cross.

•Ando's Church of the Light was

a very low-budget affair, where
the starkness of the interior
was a necessity, and not so
much an aesthetic choice
•church pews are made of wood
salvaged from the concrete
formwork.

•Yet the simplicity of the church is its

beauty — a highly ordered, extremely
focussed space only steps away from
the workaday residential
neighbourhood outside.
 WATER TEMPLE
•The Temple, originally for the
Shingon Buddhist Sect, is
approached from a long uphill path
traversing the original temple
compound and cemetery

•One is then directed, indirectly,

through a simple series of two
gesturing white-washed concrete
walls of light and shadow that
eventually lead one to what seems
like a pool of water.

•The pool itself is filled to its

outermost perimeter, forming a
boundless horizon line
 The stillness of the water has a meditative effect and perhaps
implications of a spiritual cleansing.
 A concrete stairway which cuts the circular pool in two
symmetrical halves descends down into momentary darkness
from the light, below the water, and, eventually, into the sacred
space of the Buddhist temple.
 Contrary to the monochromatic approach through the white walls
and neutral concrete stair, the interior of the temple is saturated
with color.
 The circular space is filled with an intense red-orange light which seems to
be pulsating from its core, the inner most and most sacred space of the
temple which houses the Buddha statue.

 Again, one does not approach the inner sanctuary of the temple directly
but circulates around the inner sanctuary where the color gradually
becomes more and more intense and eventually reveals itself as one
follows the silky smooth concrete walls to the light source. 
 The vermilion red color is most intense during sunset as light radiates
through a western facing window.
 This western light has symbolic meaning because Buddha originates from
the west (India).
 ART SITE NAOSHIMA
•Naoshima is a small island in
Japan’s Inland Sea that is home to
local fishermen as well as a
development for the arts.

•The Museum and hotel are located

on the southern edge of the island
on a steep hillside with interventions
extending to the rocky shore line
and beach below.

•A stepped plaza that functions as

the museum's entrance also houses
an underground annex and further
doubles as a stage for outdoor
performances.

•It is only after climbing the plaza

steps that the stone rubble walls of
the main museum come into sight
 Since the museum is located in a national park of spectacular
beauty, more than half of the building's volume was set
underground so as not to intrude on the scenic surroundings.

 After visitors ascend the slope and pass

through the main building's entrance,
they enter the large underground art
gallery, which is two levels high.

. A hotel building, gallery, and stepped

terrace all open towards the ocean,
whose tranquil presence is drawn into
the interior spaces.
 Further up the slope behind the Naoshima Contemporary Art
Museum is the Annex, the second phase of Ando's project at
Naoshima. Currently, the Annex functions primarily as a luxury
hotel
 Like the main complex, the Annex is partially buried into the
hillside and integrated within the surrounding landscape. It can be
reached by a cable car or by"processional" walking paths which
enable the visitor to sustain a strong connection to the abundant
nature and spectacular scenery.
 The Annex is an elliptical building, framed by rectilinear outer
walls made of the same stones that were used on the earlier
buildings.

 The focus of the Annex is its central open-air "courtyard"— an

elliptical pool that was conceived as a reflective water sculpture.
A courtyard surrounding the pool serves as an outdoor gallery
and entryway to the guest rooms, each with
a private view of the sea.

 The entrance to the Annex is decorated

with a cascade of water that appears to
flow to the ocean. The entire hillside
serves as the Annex garden and together
they offer an intimate encounter with
nature art, and solitude.
 On another part of Naoshima is the Art House Project, developed
under the same managing authority as the Naoshima
Contemporary Art Museum. The purpose of the Art House Project
is to preserve and restore the region's old traditional private
houses that could then serve as galleries for permanent
exhibitions of contemporary art.
THANK YOU