Tadao Ando
Special Viewing for ANDO BOX III & ANDO BOX IV

In addition to the photographs of Ando’s architectures taken by Tadao Ando himself, this exhibition is a composite exhibition based on drawings and models to create Ando architecture.

Without seeking any formal education, Ando gained his knowledge and position as one of the world’s top architects by his own learning experience as he walked through landscapes, civilizations and architecture of all ages and cultures around the world. Photographs of architecture designed by such architect are different from typical architectural photography – they are indeed the prototype of Ando’s concepts and the prototype of creations by human civilization. Thus this exhibition of Ando’s works demonstrates the universality of his own architecture.

『ANDO BOX III』
ANDO BOX III, a photography portfolio of Tadao Ando’s architecture photographed by Ando himself. The portfolio which includes images of Ando’s architecture located outside of Japan captured through his own perspectives is published with amanasalto’s platinum printing technology.

Within every place, there always lies a character that is distinct only to that space. In the process of architecture, one trains their eyes to such essences and newly constructs them into a tangible form. When I say, “character of a space,” I refer to a variety of elements: the land’s history and landscape, its vegetation, the extant structures there, as well as the sights that can be seen there. At the same time, there is no single answer as to how one should draw on such facets; one can pursue a harmony between the artificial and the natural, or conversely, seek to further emphasize the contrast between the two. Regardless of approach, however, the pursuit always remains the same – to aspire for architecture perfectly attuned to its surroundings.
―Tadao Ando, ANDO BOX III, 2017

『ANDO BOX IV』
ANDO BOX IV highlights on two projects, the Urban Egg and the Church of the Light, which have special significance to Ando who has been involved in architecture for over 50 years. And the prints were produced with amanasalto’s cutting-edge technology and artisan skills. The pencil drawings of the Urban Egg were printed in large format using archival pigment printing and the blueprints of the Church of the Light were printed in cyanotype. In addition, the portfolio includes handwritten drawings of Punta della Dogana and Bourse de Commerce with a three-dimensional model of Urban Egg.

The Urban Egg and the Church of the Light. The former, a project I proposed of my own volition; the latter, a church, roughly 30 tsubo (100 square meters), situated in an ordinary Osaka suburb. Putting aside the fact that their timing coincided, everything else about them – the backgrounds and the situations surrounding them – is different. They do, however, share one point in common; these projects allowed me to challenge the limits of my imagination, and it is for such a reason that they have special significance to me. Up to the present day, it would be fair to say these structures serve as new reference points in the context of my architecture. The Punta della Dogana, a renovation and extension project completed in Venice in 2009, together with the Bourse de Commerce, another revitalization endeavor with the same client currently in progress in Paris – both trace their origins to the egg and the light that I discovered at the end of the 1980s.
―Tadao Ando, ANDO BOX IV, 2018