When I considered the traits of great architects, the first quality that came to mind was perfectionism. It takes painstaking attention to detail to create an aesthetic masterpiece—let alone a structure that can withstand an earthquake. If you’re not fastidious about getting every element right, your designs will be flawed and your buildings could collapse. But then I learned that to be uncompromising, architects have to make compromises. And I kept hearing that no one did this better than Tadao Ando.
