ando in the desert : architecture meets fashion : tom ford’s ranch in sante fe by tadao ando

tom ford‘s ranch by tadao ando via somewhere i would like to live photos by guido mocafico

water temple : architecture : shingonshu honpukuji : japan : tadao ando : photos by ken conley

photos : ken conley at kwc text : architectuul

Few of Tadao Ando’s projects represent the architect’s contribution to Japanese culture better than his Water Temple: more than a building, it is a sensorial experience representing a radical change in the age-old tradition of Japanese temple architecture. In something more than a simple inversion of the conventional ascent to the holy place, Ando employs a series of different architectonic spaces conceived as a succession of theatres for initiation. Walking between the lotus flowers, one feels that this is a place which transcends day-to-day life, a place where the combination of architecture with nature and the reverberation of the placid mirror of water naturally lead to meditation and asceticism. After descending the narrow staircase flanked by the cement walls so typical of Ando’s works, the visitor finally reaches the sacred space, where everything is enveloped in a warm vermilion red – an unusual use of colour by the architect. Access to the sanctuary is not immediate: once again, basic geometrical elements oblige the visitor to take a route which only gradually leads to the place of worship, offering continual surprises along the way. Ando has taken the oval shape of the pool underground and made it into a sacred enclosure within which he has organised different spaces, dividing the area in two with the long stairway and assigning half of it to the sanctuary and the other half to the adjacent rooms. The sanctuary is bounded by two semicircular walls enclosing a wooden structure built on the traditional model of Shingon temples, with a statue of Amida Buddha in the centre. The sacredness of the room is accentuated by the use of colour and light: natural light from a single source filters through a grating behind the statue of the Buddha and floods the nave, warming up the vermilion red in which the room is painted. The plastic and spatial results achieved here make the Hompuki temple one of the high points of Ando’s career, expressing a universe of symbolism and colour formerly unknown to him which has enriched his way of expressing the character of Japanese space.                                                                                                                                                                 .

beach house twins : 4×4 : architecture : tadao ando : japan

 

 

 

4×4 houses : tadao ando b&w photos : jonhefel

the first time i fell in love : koshino house : architecture : tadao ando : japan

i was always interested in houses from a very young age, i would sit in my room drawing plans, this was after the phase of being a pilot, and building model planes ended. when i was 14 i bought my first book on architecture and one of the buildings was the koshino house by tadao ando. i remember being spellbound by the lines, the bare concrete and the roofs that didn’t meet the walls to let in the ever changing shafts of light. it is still one of the most beautiful houses for me

buried art : architecture : tadao ando : naoshima art gallery : japan

rather than building up, tadao ando built into the land for the naoshima art gallery. this huge project is nearly all underground to preserve the natural beauty of the island in which it stands. and in true ando form, it is the courtyards that slit open the land to bring in light. and now with the time the plants have taken over to make it feel like it was always there

 

the original : azuma house : architecture : tadao ando : japan

tadao ando at his earliest and best. house of azuma : sumiyoshi

love ando