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Writer's pictureKenny Wong

Master of Contemporary Japanese Architecture

Updated: Jun 28, 2022

Tadao Ando’s Aesthetics



Within the architectural space, the industrial revolution has seeped into the mainstream in recent years. Whether we’re talking about building exteriors or interior design, the industrial wave utilises a raw and minimalistic look that is mainly comprised of concrete. It isn’t uncommon these days to find such deco in restaurants and coffee shops. In Hong Kong, public facilities such as the Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai Public Library and the Che Kung Temple Sports Centre (which opened last year) combine concrete and greenery to produce fresh and eye-catching results. The spaces embrace natural light and outdoor landscapes via floor-to-ceiling glass walls and lofts, giving a boost to the architectural appeal of the ordinary residential districts they reside in. This industrial concept was sparked into being by someone who dared to use raw concrete as a key element in their designs decades ago, during a time when extravagant and splendid styles were at the height of their popularity. That someone is the internationally renowned architect: Tadao Ando.

In limited living spaces such as those in Hong Kong, caring about architectural aesthetics can come second to actually securing a space itself. In more recent years, however, people are learning to appreciate the value in aesthetics. I believe that many people, in my generation at least, learned this appreciation for aesthetics from Japan. The flair that the Japanese have in their designs, in everything from fonts to fashion, never fails to capture our attention. Not surprisingly, then, it was Tadao Ando from Japan who opened the door to the art of architecture for us. I remember that before I knew who this master was, I saw his work featured in a music video first. I’d been drawn to the visual of a white steel cross standing on the water in the music video of the song “Worship” by Malaysian singer Fish Leong. The featured church foregrounded a sweeping forest, and did not look like a typical church at all. Later, I learned that the memorable structure was known as the “Church on the Water” in the Hokkaido Hoshino Resorts. Built in 1988, it is one of Tadao Ando’s most representative works. He built the church out of concrete, glass and sturdy metal frames while basing its concept on nature, and directed the surrounding natural river to ripple quietly into the site’s artificial pool. “Church on the Water”, together with “Church of the Light” in Osaka and “Church of the Wind” in Hyogo, forms Tadao Ando’s famous “Church Trilogy”.

Photo: NATURE AS IMAGE OF THE TRANSCENDENT. CHURCH ON THE WATER BY TADAO ANDO (Source: https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/nature-image-transcendent-church-water-tadao-ando)


Ando’s aesthetics are several decades ahead of the world, possibly due to his impoverished childhood. He never received a formal education in architecture, but obtained a professional boxer license at the age of 17 just so he could join overseas competitions and experience the beauty of architecture around the world. Poverty failed to rein in his imagination, and he went on to work in an interior design company and become a self-taught architect. After spending eight months traveling in Europe, he returned to Japan and opened his own architecture firm. The rest, as they say, is history.

Photo: Tadao_Ando (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadao_Ando)


Without the burden of traditional academia, his works stood out among his peers in the same generation. His “Row House in Sumiyoshi” (Osaka) was what propelled him to fame for the first time in 1976. The two-storey concrete house looks like two stacked boxes from the outside, an extremely avant-garde design at the time that overturned the concept of Japanese traditional housing (classic examples of such being the homes of Nobita or Shin-chan, as portrayed in popular Japanese animations Doraemon and Crayon Shin-chan respectively). Ando was awarded by the Architectural Society of Japan for this ground-breaking design. From the 1990s onwards, he shifted from commercial to large-scale buildings such as museums and art institutions both in and out of Japan, and his signature use of smooth concrete has taken the world by storm. In 1995, Ando won the “Pritzker Architecture Prize”, the highest honour in the industry, cementing his international status. (In a reflection of his magnanimity, he donated the prize money of US$100,000 to the orphans of the Kobe earthquake in the same year.)

Photo: ROW HOUSE IN SUMIYOSHI. AZUMA HOUSE BY TADAO ANDO (Source: https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/row-house-sumiyoshi-azuma-house-tadao-ando)


Among his works, the shopping mall “Omotesando Hills” in Harajuku, Tokyo is one that many Hong Kong people will be familiar with. The mall was built with a long and narrow layout; given that Omotesando’s sloping hinterlands can’t take tall structures, the mall was built with three floors underground and three floors above ground. A row of Japanese zelkova trees line the outskirts of the mall to bring it into harmony with the landscape. As a redevelopment project, “Omotesando Hills” retained a part of the old Aoyama apartments to pay tribute to its 80-year history while modernising the design for a new generation.

Photo: Omotesando Hills (Source: https://www.gotokyo.org/en/spot/36/index.html)


Tadao Ando has more than 200 works all over the world, the latest being the HE ART MUSEUM (HEM) that opened last year in Shunde, Guangdong. The museum embodies his signature use of natural elements such as light, water, and wind, and appears to sit in the center of a beautiful pool of water. Inspired by Lingnan architectural culture, he echoed the Ancient Chinese belief of a “round” heaven and “square” earth by literally designing the bottom gallery with a square floor, and the upper levels with round floors. Natural light from the patio spills over the walk up the museum’s iconic double-spiral staircase to the fourth floor, while beams of light illuminate the exhibition area. The museum is designed to touch visitors with the warmth of natural light as they admire the exhibits. A true master in the architectural field, Tadao Ando has never stopped honing his craft, and is still as active as he was when he began in the 1970s. The themes of living, light, emptiness, localisation, revitalisation and cultivation are always on his mind, represented and fulfilled by his works. His 89th museum continues to rock the world of architecture with calm and steady hand.

Photo: Tadao Ando Completes the He Art Museum in China (Source: https://www.archdaily.com/947876/tadao-ando-completes-the-he-art-museum-in-china)




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