Tadao Ando

Architect: Tadao Ando
Tadao Ando was born on September 13, 1941, in Minato-ku, Osaka, Japan and was raised in Asahi-ku in the city. He is a Japanese architect whose approach to architecture was categorized by Francesco Dal Co as critical regionalism. Ando has led a storied life; since his childhood days spent making wood models of ships and airplanes, Tadao has been interested in the shapes of structures and also the form of nature. As a kid, Tadao "watched how trees grew, altered by how the sun hit them, changing the qualities of lumber." After visiting temples and shrines in Kyoto and Nara and studying traditional Japanese architecture there, he "came to understand the absolute balance between a form and the material from which it is made."
Influences
Architecture had taken over his mind at 15 when he bought a book of drawings by Le Corbusier.   Tadao went over the sketches of the book until the paper became black. While drawing, he thought about how he had arrived at that concept, and so he learnt a great deal just by doing so. In addition to Le Corbusier, the books purchased by Tadao were from the likes of Mies Van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, Loius Kahn and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Style
Ando has strong cultural backgrounds in Japan, where he was raised and also currently stays. The Japanese religion and life style influenced him a lot in his design style in terms of architecture. His style in architecture is said to create a "haiku" effect, and also emphasize the nothingness to represent the beauty of simplicity. Yet he likes to design architecture with complex spatial circulation while the appearance is simple. As a self-taught architect, he keeps his Japanese culture and language tightly in his mind while he travels around Europe for learning experience. As an architect, he believes that architecture can change the society - "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...