Tadao Ando

When referring to the essence of the materials he works with Tadao Ando often speaks of their spirituality, which he attempts to reveal when using them in his architecture. Such spirituality would reside in the ambiguous interdependency Ando establishes between simple geometric forms and the rarified, yet precise, materials used for these. Architecture as the creator of new landscapes; buildings as a setting for the transcience of nature: the light of day and of the seasons, wind and water, and space itself as an entity which separates man from, and connects him to, nature and to himself are three of the ideas the work of the Japanese architect explores. Conceived as a perceptible quality of the sum total of spaces, forms, volumes and materials, spirituality is reflected in much of this planner's work: from modest houses to secluded temples, from the temple of art to temples for man. An unusual dwelling, a museum giving rise to a new landscape, plus the other works Ando has constructed throug hout his career to aid in the meditation of a wide range of religious beliefs go to form this first number of GG Section.

Contents

• Introduction
• Water Temple
• Meditation Space, Unesco
• Church in Tarumi
• Chapel on Mount Rokko
• Viacariate of Rome
• Church of light
• Town House in Hirano
• Naoshima Museum
• English interview
• Spanish interview