Ando, Architect, Kazukiyo Matsuba

Hardcover
First edition, 1998

Ando, Architect sets the work of Tadao Ando in dramatic perspective—initial intentions, meditations at the time of creation, and personal philosophy. The author has long been closely acquainted with Ando and possesses a greater understanding of his work than any other critic. De illustration on the back of the cover (see photo's) is a detail from Ando's Chikatsu-Asuka Historical Museum, situated in one of Japan's most ancient historical areas. 

Photography by Tomio Ohashi
Tomio Ohashi is Japan's foremost photograher in the field of architecture, with a particulair interest in minka (vernacular houses constructed in any one of several traditional Japanese building styles).

Ando, Architect not only showcases the work of Japan's most talked-about architect but also draws a lively portrait of the man himself. Self-educated and at one time a licensed boxer, Ando went on to receive the prestigious Pritzer Architecture Prize. He served as visiting professor at Harvard and Yale, and was recently named Professor of Architecture at the University of Tokyo, the bastion of the Japanese establishment. In 1997 his design was chosen in competition for the new Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth.

In the first part of the book, the author details his twenty-year relationship with Tadao Ando, providing insights into the architect's views on life and the creative process. Beginning with Fabrica in Treviso, Italy—built for Luciano Benetton—and ending with Ando's unequivocal reaction to the Kobe earthquake, the author tells us what kind of man the architect really is—above all, why he steadfastly adhered to his own ideals when most architects were succumbing to commercialism during Japan's economic "bubble." We learn, incidentally, that Ando's temperament, while decidedly his own, owes something to the fact that he grew up in Osaka, a city where independent-mindedness is the norm rather than the exception.

In the second half of the book, the author takes a more detached view of twenty of Ando's works, from the Shitamachi Karaza mobile theater to the Chikatsu-Asuka Historical Museum. Each is seen against a backdrop of context, space, history, or city. All are strikingly illustrated in black-and-white. Whether the reader's principle interest lies in the buildings themselves or the man behind them, Ando, Architect will prove informative and revealing.

Language: English

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Ando, Architect, Kazukiyo Matsuba, almost like new copy
Kodansha International, Tokyo • New York • London, 1998, first edition, hardcover with dust jacket, 23,2 x 16,0 x 1,9 cm, 223 pages

Printed in Japan

Price without shipping costs