Quotes by Tadao Ando

About Tadao Ando:

Tadao Ando is a Japanese self-taught architect whose approach to architecture and landscape was categorized by architectural historian Francesco Dal Co as "critical regionalism".
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I believe that the way people live can be directed a little by architecture.

Tadao Ando

I would like my architecture to inspire people to use their own resources, to move into the future.

Tadao Ando

The speed of change makes you wonder what will become of architecture.

Tadao Ando

When you look at Japanese traditional architecture, you have to look at Japanese culture and its relationship with nature. You can actually live in a harmonious, close contact with nature - this very unique to Japan.

Tadao Ando

Without this spirit, Modernist architecture cannot fully exist. Since there is often a mismatch between the logic and the spirit of Modernism, I use architecture to reconcile the two.

Tadao Ando

Japanese traditional architecture is created based on these conditions. This is the reason you have a very high degree of connection between the outside and inside in architecture.

Tadao Ando

All those involved in the construction of an architectural design, from the architect to the builder, have an attachment to the architecture, although it's difficult to quantify the attachment.

Tadao Ando

Japanese architecture is traditionally based on wooden structures that need renovating on a regular basis.

Tadao Ando

Spiritual space is lost in gaining convenience. I saw the need to create a mixture of Japanese spiritual culture and modern western architecture.

Tadao Ando

I believe that architecture is fundamentally a public space where people can gather and communicate, think about the history, think about the lives of human beings, or the world.

Tadao Ando

All architecture has a public nature, I believe, so I would like to make a public space.

Tadao Ando

Since I am a Japanese man who's been building through the experience of Japanese architecture, my actual designs come from Japanese architectural concepts, although they're based on Western methods and materials.

Tadao Ando

Italy is full of historical buildings. And Europe holds a great history of philosophy from Greece until today. I read all those books and see these buildings, and I think of where I stand when I design my architecture.

Tadao Ando

My hand is the extension of the thinking process - the creative process.

Tadao Ando

But in Japan, there's nothing like that, since the temple is made of wood. The divine spirit inside the building is eternal, so the enclosure doesn't have to be.

Tadao Ando

If you give people nothingness, they can ponder what can be achieved from that nothingness.

Tadao Ando

You always want to try to make something new, and, of course, America is the world leader in economics today.

Tadao Ando

Working in Tokyo has convinced me that, contrary to what people think, it is actually one of the world's most beautiful cities.

Tadao Ando

Look at London or Paris: they're both filthy. You don't get that in Tokyo. The proud residents look after their city.

Tadao Ando

In Japan, there is less a culture of preserving old buildings than in Europe.

Tadao Ando

Author Bio

  • NameTadao Ando
  • DescriptionJapanese architect (b.1941)
  • AliasesTadao And?; And? Tadao; ?? ??
  • BornSeptember 13, 1941
  • CountryJapan
  • ProfessionBoxer; Architect
  • AwardsRoyal Gold Medal; Pritzker Architecture Prize; Order Of Culture; Alvar Aalto Medal; Praemium Imperiale