Tadao Ando: Complete Works

by Philip Jodidio

Philippe Starck describes him as a ""mystic in a country which is no longer mystic."" Drew Philip calls his buildings ""land art"" that ""struggle to emerge from the earth."" He is the only architect to have won the discipline's four most prestigious the Pritzker, Carlsberg, Praemium Imperiale, and Kyoto Prize. His name is Tadao Ando, and he is the world's greatest living architect. Combining influences from Japanese tradition with the best of Modernism, Ando has developed a completely unique building aesthetic that makes use of concrete, wood, water, light, space, and nature in a way that has never been witnessed in architecture. Ando has designed award-winning private homes, churches, museums, apartment complexes, and cultural spaces throughout Japan, as well as in France, Italy, Spain, and the USA. This book, created at the height of Ando's illustrious career, presents his complete works to date.

Genres: Architecture, Design, Art

492 pages, Hardcover

First published November 11, 2004

Reviews

[Mari Degard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a very thorough collection of Ando's most representative work throughout his career as an architect, it also has a list of his complete works that you can use to find any other projects not found on this book and a bibliography, to deepen your knowledge of the architect's work, which I found great. Each work depicted has an introductory text that is well resumed and has either drafts or graphics of the work itself.
I enjoyed it a lot.

[Lorenzo Diaz campos · Rating 4 out of 5]

La arquitectura ha olvidado que el espacio puede ser una fuente de inspiración”. Tadao Ando

La sencillez de la perfección es el título del texto escrito por Philip Jodidio -editor del libro- como introducción de este magnífico volumen, que incluye todos los proyectos realizados por este gran arquitecto Japonés, entre 1975 y el 2012.
Tadao Ando es uno de los arquitectos vivos más importantes del mundo y el único que ha sido galardonado con los 4 mayores reconocimientos de la arquitectura: el Pritzker, el Carlsberg, el Praemium Imperiale y el Kyoto.
A los 15 años llegó a sus manos el libro de obras completas de Le Corbusier, del que copió algunos dibujos y fue lo que detonó su interés por la arquitectura. Cada uno de los proyectos se ilustra con excelentes fotografías, plantas, cortes y dibujos que describen la forma de ver la arquitectura de Ando.
Al final de la publicación se agrupan los proyectos que a la fecha no se han construido, pero también con mucho detalle de maquetas, renders y dibujos. Una compra obligada para todos aquellos que disfrutan de la obra de este talentoso arquitecto.

[Enterpricicle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book, truly a must-have for any fan of Ando's work.

It teaches you a lot about Ando's mindset and style, mostly by simply showing you his work through photos.
The accompanying texts are short, but informative, the photos are beautiful and capture Ando's use of light and shadow very well, showcasing his impressive talent and drawing in the reader.
The numerous photos and groundplans help you 'understand' the building and make it easy to imagine walking through it (something I appreciate a lot).


I highly recommend this book, it's great to have around and you'll find yourself browsing its pages again and again.

[darío hereñú · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words can`t deal with Tadao Ando.
The approaches, the methods, the myriad of tiny details made his architecture, in my humble opinion, unique.
The raison d'etre of "Church of the light" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_o...) seems to be a mixture of minimalism, solitude, mindfulness, humility.
The book, for those lovers of architecture, is a delight for the eyes and senses.

Incredible, for me, that all the buildings comes from a single mind of a simple mind of a simple human being.

Sir Tadao Ando, at your knees.

[titi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ando has always been my architectural icon, and this book captures his spirit.