Art and Architecture | Tadao Ando: The Master of Light

6. February 2015

Photo Sources: Pinterest and F64

“I do not believe architecture has to speak too much.It should remain silent and let nature in the guise of sunlight and wind”. – Tadao Ando

Very much like predecessor Le Corbusier’s pioneering into reinforced concrete architecture, Ando’s understated work is conceived as concrete sculptures blending into a landscape. Even more than that, his buildings reflect nature and lets it be an integral part of it. Before the International Style, Japanese art and architecture, was, after all, the main source of influence in all modernist art and architecture and they had always been traditionally nature-centric before the Westernization of the country.

Pretty much like many architecture students, I was at the beginning impressed by and infatuated with the works of Frank Gehry and other deconstructivist postmodern architects, dreaming of designing one day my own chaotic sculpture. But the more I learned about a person’s, population’s and a city’s needs, I learned to appreciate simplicity and raw functionalism. However, the undeniable beauty of Ando’s works goes beyond that by creating moods, atmospheres, and even a poetic statement with the incorporation of natural light into living spaces.

Featured buildings: 1. Chichu Art Museum 2. Capella di Mare 3. The Church of Light 4. Koshino House 5. Koshino House 6. Hansol Museum 7. Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art 8. House Kidosaki 9. Teatrino Palazzo Grassi 10. Teatro Armani 11. Vitra Conference Pavillion 12. UNESCO Meditation Space 13. UNESCO Meditation Space 14. Pulitzer Art Foundation 15. Koshino House 16. Langen Foundation 17. Koshino House