Tadao Ando facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tadao Ando
Tadao Ando in 2004
Born	(1941-09-13) 13 September 1941 (age 83) Minato-ku, Osaka, Japan
Occupation	Architect
Awards	Alvar Aalto Medal, 1985 Carlsberg Architectural Prize, 1992 Pritzker Prize, 1995 RIBA Royal Gold Medal, 1997 AIA Gold Medal, 2002 Neutra Medal for Professional Excellence, 2012
Practice	Tadao Ando Architects & Associates
Buildings	Row House, Sumiyoshi, 1979 Church of the Light, Osaka, 1989 Water Temple, Awaji, 1991
Projects	Rokko Housing I, II, III, Kobe, 1983–1999

Tadao Ando (安藤 忠雄, Andō Tadao, born 13 September 1941) is a famous Japanese architect. He taught himself architecture, meaning he learned without going to a special school. He won the Pritzker Prize in 1995, which is one of the highest awards an architect can receive. His unique style of building design is known for using simple shapes and natural light.

Who is Tadao Ando?

Early Life and Learning

Tadao Ando was born in 1941 in Minato-ku, Osaka, Japan. When he was two years old, he went to live with his great-grandmother. Before becoming an architect, he was a boxer!

He never went to a formal architecture school. Instead, he learned by himself. He was very impressed by the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This inspired him to become an architect.

After high school, he stopped boxing. He took night classes to learn drawing and studied interior design by mail. He also traveled around Europe to see buildings by famous architects like Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In 1968, he opened his own design studio in Osaka.

What is Tadao Ando's Style?

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, showing the restaurant

Galleria Akka in Osaka, built in 1988

Ando's Japanese background and culture greatly influenced his building designs. His style is often compared to a "haiku" poem. This means he uses empty spaces and simple designs to show beauty. He likes to create complex paths inside buildings, but the outside still looks simple.

Even though he taught himself, he always remembers his Japanese roots. He believes that buildings can change society. He thinks that if you change a home, you can change a city and even improve society. His buildings often create a strong identity for a place.

His simple designs focus on how people feel and experience the space. This is influenced by Zen, a Japanese idea about simplicity and inner feelings. Ando often uses concrete in his buildings. This gives them a clean and light feeling, even though concrete is heavy.

Ando has designed both Japanese temples and Christian churches. He believes that designing religious buildings and homes is similar. He says that a house is a place for the heart, just like a church is a place to find peace.

He also emphasizes the connection between nature and buildings. He wants people to easily experience nature's beauty through his architecture. He believes buildings should show off the natural features of their location.

In 1995, Ando won the Pritzker Prize, a very important award in architecture. He gave the $100,000 prize money to children who lost their homes in the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake in Kobe.

Famous Buildings and Works

Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in Kobe

Tadao Ando's buildings are known for using natural light in creative ways. He designs structures that fit into the landscape instead of changing it. His buildings often have complex paths that weave between inside and outside spaces.

One of his early works is the "Row House in Sumiyoshi" (Azuma House), built in 1976. It's a small, two-story concrete house. It has three parts: two enclosed rooms and an open courtyard in the middle. The courtyard is a key part of how you move through the house. This house shows how Ando can make a simple-looking building feel rich and interesting inside.

His housing complex at Rokko, near Kobe, is another famous project. The designs for Rokko Housing One (1983) and Rokko Housing Two (1993) show how he plays with solid and empty spaces, and light and darkness. These buildings are also famous because they survived the powerful Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995 without damage. This shows his great engineering skills.

In 2003, Ando was asked to design a house in Malibu, California. This large, modern concrete house was finished in 2014. It used a special type of concrete and rebar to resist corrosion from the ocean. In 2023, the famous couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z bought this house for $200 million, making it the most expensive single-family home sold in the United States that year.

Projects by Tadao Ando

The Church of the Light in Ibaraki, Osaka

Awards and Recognition

Kaminoge Station in Tokyo

The interior of the Omotesando Hills shopping complex in Tokyo

Tadao Ando has received many important awards for his architectural work. These awards recognize his unique style and influence on building design around the world.

Images for kids

• 

  Langen Foundation

• 

  Langen Foundation

• 

  Langen Foundation

• 

  Pulitzer Arts Foundation

• 

  Honpuku Temple (Water Temple)

• 

  Suntory Museum in Osaka

• 

  Akita Museum of Art, stairs

• 

  Lee Ufan museum

• 

  Westin Awaji Island Hotel

• 

  Hyogo prefectural museum of art

• 

  Hyogo prefectural museum of art

• 

  Honpuku Temple (Water Temple)

• 

  The Shikokumura gallery

• 

  Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art, Kyoto

• 

  Lincoln park house, Chicago

• 

  Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, showing the reflecting pool

• 

  Himeji City Museum of Literature

• 

  Azuma House

• 

  View from Akita Museum of Art

• 

  Mount Rokko Chapel

• 

  Suntory Museum, showing the staircase and the inside structure

• 

  City Museum of Literature

• 

  Chikatsu Asuka museum

• 

  Awaji Yumebutai in Awaji, Hyogo prefecture, Japan

• 

  Awaji Yumebutai, showing the view and the stairs down

• 

  Suntory Museum, the parallelepiped intersecting the spherical body of the IMAX theatre, shown in profile

• 

  Rokko Housing I and II, Kobe

• 

  Vitra Conference Pavillon

• 

  Langen Foundation at night

• 

  Osaka Prefectural Sayamaike Museum

See also

In Spanish: Tadao Andō para niños