Tadao Ando

This comprehensive monograph on Pritzker prizewinning architect Tadao Ando covers the span of his impressive career, with previously unpublished material and insight into his sources of inspiration.

This in-depth monograph offers insight into Tadao Ando's sober and elegant architecture through photographs, architectural drawings, and descriptions of eighty of his most significant works. Self-taught, the Corbusier-influenced architect opened his Osaka studio in 1969. Today, his notable works span the globe: London's Tate Modern; St. Louis's Pulitzer Arts Foundation; Osaka's Church of the Light; Paris's UNESCO Meditation Space; Venice's Palazzo Grassi; Abu Dhabi's Maritime Museum; and exceptional buildings in South Korea, Taiwan, China, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Germany, and throughout the United States.

Japanese design principles-from the use of concrete, simple geometric volumes, and the integration of natural elements such as light or water-are essential elements that Ando uses to provoke a physical experience through his architecture.

An interview with the architect accompanies his own writings and critical essays on various aspects of his work. A portfolio of Ando's black and white photographs and colored pencil drawings from his previously unpublished travel notebooks provide new insight into his sources of inspiration. The book is completed with a biography and a chronology of his works to date, including some unrealized projects.