Table Of ContentTadao ando
Conversations
with
Students
additional titles in the
Conversations with Students
series
Santiago Calatrava
Le Corbusier
Louis I. Kahn
Rem Koolhaas
Ian McHarg
Mies van der Rohe
Frei otto
Paul Rand
Peter Smithson
Paolo Soleri
Tadao ando
Conversations
with
Students
Translated and edited
by Matthew Hunter
Princeton Architectural Press
New York
Published by Russell Fernandez, Jan Hartman,
Princeton Architectural Press Diane Levinson, Jennifer Lippert,
37 East Seventh Street Jacob Moore, Gina Morrow, Katharine
New York, New York 10003 Myers, Margaret Rogalski, Dan Simon,
Andrew Stepanian, Elana Schlenker,
Visit our website at www.papress.com. Paul Wagner, and Joseph Weston of
Princeton Architectural Press
English-language edition © 2012 —Kevin C. Lippert, publisher
Princeton Architectural Press
All rights reserved Thanks to Dr. Masahiko Minami, Janet
Originally published as Hunter, John Hunter, Christopher
Ando Tadao Kenchiku o kataru Hunter, Kazuyo Asaoka Hunter,
Copyright © 1999 by Tadao Ando Graham Hicks, and Dr. David Rosen.
English translation rights arranged My sincere gratitude is owed to
with University of Tokyo Press through Masataka Yano and Ayano Higuchi of
Japan UNI Agency, Inc., Tokyo Tadao Ando Architect and Associates.
Most importantly, my deepest
Printed and bound in China thanks to Tadao Ando Sensei for his
15 14 13 12 4 3 2 1 First edition generosity, patience, and support.
—Matthew Hunter
No part of this book may be used or
reproduced in any manner without Library of Congress Cataloging-in-
written permission from the publisher, Publication Data
except in the context of reviews. Ando, Tadao, 1941–
[Kenchiku o kataru. English]
Every reasonable attempt has been Tadao Ando : conversations with
made to identify owners of copyright. students / translated and edited by
Errors or omissions will be corrected in Matthew Hunter. — First edition.
subsequent editions. pages cm — (Conversations with
students)
Project editor: Sara E. Stemen ISBN 978-1-61689-070-4 (pbk. : alk.
Designer: Jan Haux paper)
1. Ando, Tadao, 1941—Interviews.
Special thanks to: Bree Anne Apperley, 2. Architects—Japan—Interviews.
Sara Bader, Nicola Bednarek Brower, I. Hunter, Matthew, 1982– translator,
Janet Behning, Fannie Bushin, Megan editor. II. Title.
Carey, Carina Cha, Andrea Chlad, NA1559.A5A35 2012
720.92—dc23
2012003148
Contents
8 Preface
Chapter One
12 Origins
Chapter Two
28 Regionalism
Chapter Three
46 Toward a Living Architecture
Chapter Four
56 Individuality
Chapter Five
68 Partiality and Totality
in Architecture
Chapter Six
78 A Love for Architecture
Appendix
90 Questions and Answers
96 Afterword and Credits
Preface
9 Preface
This book originated in 1998, when I gave a series of lectures at
the University of Tokyo’s graduate school of architecture.
Back then, at the end of the twentieth century, the architec-
tural world was alive with the pursuit of a new path for modern
architecture. However, in this world of accelerating globalization,
the field has since become engulfed by an increasingly powerful
wave of commercialism.
On the other hand, while many challenges face our world
today—the fragility of our global environment, the task of adapt-
ing to an information-based society—the possibilities for architec-
tural solutions to these issues have dramatically increased, thanks
to technological advances. Therefore, architecture might seem to
be evolving into an even freer form.
Yet it is unlikely that true architectural freedom can be
achieved while consumerism dominates all. I don’t think I am
alone in my skepticism of the gamelike atmosphere of the current
world of architecture, in which architects vie to create the most
extreme forms.
With the current stagnation of modern architecture and the
numerous earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods that recently have
occurred worldwide, the social responsibility of those involved in
architecture has become increasingly vital.
On March 11, 2011, northeastern Japan was struck by a hor-
rific earthquake and tsunami.
As I touch upon in this book, I was deeply involved in the
rebuilding process following the great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe)
earthquake of 1995. While I thought I knew all too well the ter-
rors wrought by earthquakes, I was wrong. Not only did the 2011
quake destroy homes, but the subsequent massive tsunami that
assaulted the Pacific coast generated unspeakable damage.
10 Tadao ando
People, cars, homes, entire towns—everything was devoured
by the waves. All that remained was a mountain of debris covered
in sludge.
Standing before more than five hundred kilometers of devas-
tation, I became painfully aware of the importance of our memory
of landscape. At the same time, I realized once again the enor-
mous social responsibility my work bears in shaping this memory.
Now, we are scrambling in our recovery efforts.
We are working not only to create safe urban areas where
people can live without anxiety; much as the inhabitants of the
Eastern European countries after World War II gradually came to
grips with reconstruction and—with great patience—eventually
recovered their lost landscape, we are striving to imbue a sense
of time into the lifeless suspension of the quake- and tsunami-
stricken cities.
To create an opportunity for this spiritual recovery, I have
begun the Chinkon no mori (Forest for the Repose of People’s
Souls) project, in which I, together with the March 11th victims,
will plant trees to cultivate a forest within the disaster-struck area.
This collaborative project calls upon the victims to nurture
new growth in a region that has suffered immense damage. Like
the Hy go Green Network (the large-scale tree-planting project
created in response to the 1995 Kobe earthquake), this forest is
designed to provide repose for the souls who have passed, and
so to restore, little by little, the memories of a lost region by rais-
ing new life in a wounded land.
My hope is that the creation of this forest will not only heal
people’s hearts and minds, but also regenerate the urban land -
scape. It is precisely because our aim is a spiritual recovery that
we must first plant trees before building any type of structure.
