Architect Tadao Ando
As one of the most influential contemporary architects, Tadao Ando, who is now 80 years old, has never stopped creating and is still active in the public eye. On March 19, a large-scale solo retrospective of "Tadao Ando: A Challenge" opened at Fosun Art Center in Shanghai, in collaboration with the Guangdong He Art Museum, which was designed and completed last year.
< h1 toutiao-origin="h2" > specialization and challenge</h1>
Tadao Ando's architectural creation began with the residential design Row House Sumiyoshi. This house made of clear-water concrete was particularly eye-catching and even a bit out of place in Japan, which was then a wooden frame house. As Ando's debut novel, Sumiyoshi Nagaya was controversial in the Japanese architectural world in the 1970s.
Tadao Ando, Sumiyoshi Koya, 1976
However, Tadao Ando admits that the initial attempt to use concrete was not entirely aesthetic, but more due to the constraints of the project budget, saying: "Clear-water concrete formed in one piece of the interior and exterior walls is the simplest and most cost-effective way to do it. But he was also deeply influenced by the modernist trend, and regarded the abandonment of superfluous decoration and the direct presentation of material texture as the basic principle of his architectural design.
Tadao Ando's model of Sumiyoshi Longhouse, photo by Georges Meguerditchian
As a result, not only was the use of concrete criticized at the time, but the minimalist and unusual structural design of the interior made Sumiyoshi Longhouse the target of public criticism, and many people called its existence "architect's paranoia". But that didn't stop Ando from adhering to clear-water concrete and design principles. To this day, he is still devoted to this material and uses it in most architectural works. Harper's BAZAAR ART has an exclusive interview with architect Tadao Ando to have a conversation about the use of materials.
BAZAAR: Why focus on clearwater concrete? How do you feel about this material?
Tadao Ando: What's interesting about concrete is that it takes on completely different qualities depending on how people use it. The texture I wanted to achieve was to fully reflect the subtle changes in light, and although it was very smooth, on the other hand, it could also show the cold power of concrete.
Tadao Ando, Rokko Housing I, 1983
Tadao Ando, Rokko Housing II, 1993
BAZAAR: During the design process, did you think about using more other materials? When concrete was first used, was there any objection from the client? What other conditions are there?
Tadao Ando: Architecture in the 20th century was developed on the basis of technological innovation. The materials that represent it are concrete, iron, and glass, and can be used anywhere in the world. With this kind of material that can be used anywhere, the challenge of creating a building that has never been anywhere and belongs only to that place is the biggest reason why I always use concrete.
Tadao Ando, Koshino House, 1981-1984
BAZAAR: As a creator, how do you grasp and explain the relationship between architectural function and aesthetics?
Tadao Ando: Sumiyoshi Longhouse is indeed a very small house, but it was not built out of "asceticism" consciousness. In the case of a situation where foundation conditions, economic conditions, and regulatory conditions are very limited, the design is to put the most important theme of "symbiosis with nature" in the first place. After all, living simply is the best.
Tadao Ando, Ogoshiro, 1981-1984
Tadao Ando, 4×4 Houses (4×4 House), 2003
<h1 toutiao-origin="h2" > symbiosis with nature</h1>
In the eyes of ordinary people, concrete often gives people a cold and hard feeling, but Ando can transform the characteristics of this material into a completely different experience in his works, which is comforting and warm. He has always created architecture around the different relationships between man and nature, the individual and society, the present and the past, and believes that in a sense, things in nature are not yet architecture.
Tadao Ando, "Head Buddha" in Makoma Uchi Takino Spiritual Garden, 2015
The "Head Buddha" was a renovation project completed by Ando in 2015, and because the original Buddha statue appeared unusually prominent in the cemetery park at that time, the client hoped that the architect would integrate it into the surrounding natural environment. Eventually, Ando's plan was to hide the Buddha statue in a man-made hill with only half of the Buddha's head exposed, and people would have to walk through a 40-meter-long corridor to enter the circular space where the Buddha statue is located. In early summer, the Buddha is submerged in lavender; in the deep winter, it hides in the snow. This is the charm of Ando's architecture: dialogue with nature, symbiosis with nature.
In 1994, Tadao Ando designed "The Museum of Wood Culture" in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, a themed museum designed to allow visitors to experience the tree culture of northern Hyogo Prefecture. In order to minimize the use of natural wood, Ando uses synthetic materials to make columns and wooden structural beams, forming a hollow space of up to 16 meters. Below the building, the open-air pool echoes the sky and connects with the forest outside. The "contradiction" and "contrast" formed by the Geometric Museum and the large forest show Ando's thinking and understanding of the living conditions of human beings.
Tadao Ando, Kino Hall of Fame, 1994
Tadao Ando has loved to travel all his life, visiting buildings and landscapes around the world, and his creative imagination comes largely from what he sees and hears during his journey. The Naoshima series of buildings in Japan stemmed from his experience of seeing the islands in the Seto Inland Sea with sparse vegetation and traces of manual excavations everywhere during a plane flight. From this, he had the idea of reinventing the islands.
Tadao Ando, Chichu Art Museum, 2000-2004
The entire Naoshima project took nearly 30 years, and Ando has rooted seven buildings, large and small, on the island. The Jichu Art Museum and the Belsheng and Modern Art Museum on the island are built in a way that is half above ground and half underground. They open their faces to the sky, as Ando says, "Architecture also needs to breathe." "Time will gradually make it a part of nature.
Tadao Ando, Lee Ufan Museum, 2007-2010
< h1 toutiao-origin="h2" > the person chasing the light</h1>
"Light" is an important theme in Tadao Ando's work, and as a self-taught architect, he seems to have been pursuing the "light" of life. Ando once wrote in his autobiography "Architect Tadao Ando": "Life is to constantly gamble on the last remaining possibilities and strive to grasp the light of small hope." And these feelings are poured into his works again and again.
Tadao Ando at the Church of Light, Photo: Araki Keisuke
One of Ando's masterpieces, Church on the Water, blends his imagination of natural light and water. He placed the 90-meter-long and 45-meter-wide pool directly in front of the church cross and calculated its depth precisely to ensure that the water surface could show traces of wind blowing at any time. Ando abstracted elements such as plants, water, light, and wind from the original nature according to human ideas, making them tend to divinity.
Tadao Ando, Church of Water, 1985-1988
In a conversation with Harper's Bazaar Art, Ando said: "Although I am an atheist, I think a place where people gather to pray is essential. When designing religious buildings, I have always promoted the design with light as the theme. It can be seen that "light" undertakes the mission of the human spiritual field in Ando's architectural works.
Tadao Ando, Church of Light, 1987-1989
Its iconic building, the Church of Light, is a culmination of Ando's use and feelings of light. The church was inaugurated in May 1989, and during construction, due to the limited budget, Ando minimized all the redundant structure and decoration inside the space. In the interior, which is surrounded by clear-water concrete on all sides, there are only altars and benches, and all are made of cedar boards used for the construction of the tripods on the site. Ando deliberately suppressed the brightness of the interior in the design, and natural light from the outside was projected through the cross windows of the front wall, forming a cross of light.
Tadao Ando, Church of Light, 1987-1989
Tadao Ando, Okinawa RESTIVAL, 1984
After the Church of Light was completed, Ando asked himself again – what is architecture? What is nature? Who designed the building? He believes that even if there are various conditions, whether there is a chance to create freely depends on whether people really use their imagination.
Tadao Ando, German Museum of Stone Carvings, 2010
Tadao Ando, "Wakai Museum of Art", 2020
In the world constructed by Ando, "chasing light" is an obsession with all small hopes, and he introduces "nature and light into simple geometries that are isolated from the urban environment, creating complex spaces, injecting the extraordinary into the most ordinary and familiar environment, thus prompting people to re-understand the ordinary."
Architect Tadao Ando
Whether it is a private home, an art museum or a church design, Ando's reflections on architecture, nature and the state of human society are all manifestations. In the face of one challenge after another, he has always adhered to his values and his quest for freedom. In today's era of rapid consumption, "persistence" and "eternity" may seem a little different, but they are still Ando's most tenacious vitality as an architect.
Finally, Harper's Bazaar Art asked Tadao Ando in an interview: "What do you think is your mission as an architect?" He replied: "The ultimate function that architects expect is to be able to paint a vision of the future." ”
It is on display
Exhibition: "Tadao Ando: The Challenge"
When: March 19 to June 6, 2021
Address: Fosun Art Center
No. 600 Zhongshan East 2nd Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai
Exhibition: "Beyond: Tadao Ando's Artistic Life"
When: March 30 to August 1, 2021
Address: and art museum
No. 6 Yixing Road, Beijiao New Town, Shunde City, Guangdong Province
Planning Qi Chao
Editor, Wen Zhu Yidan
This article is original by Harper's Bazaar Art Department and may not be reproduced without permission