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I Think Architecture Becomes Interesting When It Has A Double Character, That Is, When It Is As Simple As Possible But, At The Same Time As Complex As Possible

-Tadao Ando

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I Think Architecture Becomes

Tadao Ando

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I Think Architecture Becomes Interesting When It Has A Double Character, That Is, When It Is As Simple As Possible But, At The Same Time As Complex As Possible

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There Is A Role And Function For Beauty In Our Time.

I Want To Create A Space That Moves People. It Doesn't Matter If It Is A House, Or A Museum, Or Whatever. So, It Is Somebody Sitting On That Lawn, Just Going Around And Around And Feeling Really Happy. That Is Something That I'm Striving For.

I Don't Believe Architecture Has To Speak Too Much. It Should Remain Silent And Let Nature In The Guise Of Sunlight And Wind

No Matter How Advanced Society Becomes, Institutionally Or Technologically, A House In Which Nature Can Be Sensed Represents For Me The Ideal Environment In Which To Live. From A Functional Viewpoint, The Courtyard Of The Rowhouse In Sumiyoshi Forces The Inhabitant To Endure The Occasional Hardships. At The Same Time, However, The Open Courtyard Is Capable Of Becoming The House's Vital Organ, Introducing The Everyday Life And Assimilating Precious Stimuli Such As Changes In Nature.

In All My Works, Light Is An Important Controlling Factor.

The Level Of Detail And Craft Is Something That's Inscribed Within The Original Design Concept. And So When I Begin To Draw, I Know What Kind Of Detailing I Want The Building To Have.

If You Give People Nothingness, They Can Ponder What Can Be Achieved From That Nothingness.

If I Can Create Some Space That People Haven't Experienced Before And If It Stays With Them Or Gives Them A Dream For The Future, That's The Kind Of Structure I Seek To Create.

I Am Interested In Things Happening Around Me, And I Need To Understand What's Going On In Other Artistic Sectors Like Music And Literature.

If You Give People Nothingness, They Can Ponder What Can Be Achieved From That Nothingness.

At The Same Time, I Would Add That The American People Have A Lot Of Courage.

When I Draw Something, The Brain And The Hands Work Together.

Working Together

My Objective Is To Design A Space That Nobody Else Can Come Up With While Using The Material That Anyone Can Use.

I Think That Capitalism Has Just Gone Too Far. And It Is Actually Not Limited To The United States. The Excesses Of Capitalism Is Making Us Suffer All Over The World Right Now.

Japanese Traditional Architecture Is Created Based On These Conditions. This Is The Reason You Have A Very High Degree Of Connection Between The Outside And Inside In Architecture.

When You Look At Japanese Traditional Architecture, You Have To Look At Japanese Culture And Its Relationship With Nature. You Can Actually Live In A Harmonious, Close Contact With Nature - This Very Unique To Japan.

I Think Architecture Becomes Interesting When It Has A Double Character, That Is, When It Is As Simple As Possible But, At The Same Time As Complex As Possible

I Think Of The Past And The Future As Well As The Present To Determine Where I Am, And I Move On While Thinking Of These Things.

I Am Interested In Things Happening Around Me, And I Need To Understand What's Going On In Other Artistic Sectors Like Music And Literature.

I Believe That The Way People Live Can Be Directed A Little By Architecture.

The Computer Offers Another Kind Of Creativity. You Cannot Ignore The Creativity That Computer Technology Can Bring. But You Need To Be Able To Move Between Those Two Different Worlds.

In Italy, There Are So Many Significant Architectural Structures In History Such As The Pantheon In Rome, Or The Duomo.

If There Is Only One Culture All Over The World, That's Not A Good Thing.

I Don't Believe Architecture Has To Speak Too Much. It Should Remain Silent And Let Nature In The Guise Of Sunlight And Wind

When I Draw Something, The Brain And The Hands Work Together.

Working Together

You Cannot Simply Put Something New Into A Place. You Have To Absorb What You See Around You, What Exists On The Land, And Then Use That Knowledge Along With Contemporary Thinking To Interpret What You See.

All Those Involved In The Construction Of An Architectural Design, From The Architect To The Builder, Have An Attachment To The Architecture, Although It's Difficult To Quantify The Attachment.

In All My Works, Light Is An Important Controlling Factor.

The Level Of Detail And Craft Is Something That's Inscribed Within The Original Design Concept. And So When I Begin To Draw, I Know What Kind Of Detailing I Want The Building To Have.

I Think Everyone Needs A Goal. And What Kind Of Goal Will Be Important. And For That We Have To Study And We Have To Be Intelligent.

I Want To Create A Space That Moves People. It Doesn't Matter If It Is A House, Or A Museum, Or Whatever. So, It Is Somebody Sitting On That Lawn, Just Going Around And Around And Feeling Really Happy. That Is Something That I'm Striving For.

The Speed Of Change Makes You Wonder What Will Become Of Architecture.

I Think Everyone Needs A Goal. And What Kind Of Goal Will Be Important. And For That We Have To Study And We Have To Be Intelligent.

In Japan, There Is Less A Culture Of Preserving Old Buildings Than In Europe.

I Hope That America As A Whole, And Especially Its Architects, Will Become More Seriously Involved In Producing A New Architectural Culture That Would Bring The Nation To The Apex - Where It Has Stood Before - And Lead The World.

You Cannot Simply Put Something New Into A Place. You Have To Absorb What You See Around You, What Exists On The Land, And Then Use That Knowledge Along With Contemporary Thinking To Interpret What You See.

I Hope America Can Also Be The Cultural Leader Of The World, And Use This Frontier Spirit To Lead And Show Others That We Need Courage To Go Places Where We Have Not Gone Before.

If I Can Create Some Space That People Haven't Experienced Before And If It Stays With Them Or Gives Them A Dream For The Future, That's The Kind Of Structure I Seek To Create.

Japanese Architecture Is Traditionally Based On Wooden Structures That Need Renovating On A Regular Basis.

I Think That Capitalism Has Just Gone Too Far. And It Is Actually Not Limited To The United States. The Excesses Of Capitalism Is Making Us Suffer All Over The World Right Now.

No Matter How Advanced Society Becomes, Institutionally Or Technologically, A House In Which Nature Can Be Sensed Represents For Me The Ideal Environment In Which To Live. From A Functional Viewpoint, The Courtyard Of The Rowhouse In Sumiyoshi Forces The Inhabitant To Endure The Occasional Hardships. At The Same Time, However, The Open Courtyard Is Capable Of Becoming The House's Vital Organ, Introducing The Everyday Life And Assimilating Precious Stimuli Such As Changes In Nature.

You Can't Really Say What Is Beautiful About A Place, But The Image Of The Place Will Remain Vividly With You.

Beauty Is Skin Deep

Look At London Or Paris: They're Both Filthy. You Don't Get That In Tokyo. The Proud Residents Look After Their City.

Spiritual Space Is Lost In Gaining Convenience. I Saw The Need To Create A Mixture Of Japanese Spiritual Culture And Modern Western Architecture.

I Think Architecture Becomes Interesting When It Has A Double Character, That Is, When It Is As Simple As Possible But, At The Same Time As Complex As Possible

All Architecture Has A Public Nature, I Believe, So I Would Like To Make A Public Space.

I Hope America Can Also Be The Cultural Leader Of The World, And Use This Frontier Spirit To Lead And Show Others That We Need Courage To Go Places Where We Have Not Gone Before.

It Wasn't That I Had Any Great Dream Of Being An Architect. I Just Wanted To Make Things. Whether It Was Furniture, Painting, Interior Design, Or Architecture. I Just Wanted To Create Something.

If There Is Only One Culture All Over The World, That's Not A Good Thing.

You Can't Really Say What Is Beautiful About A Place, But The Image Of The Place Will Remain Vividly With You.

Beauty Is Skin Deep

Since I Am A Japanese Man Who's Been Building Through The Experience Of Japanese Architecture, My Actual Designs Come From Japanese Architectural Concepts, Although They're Based On Western Methods And Materials.

It Wasn't That I Had Any Great Dream Of Being An Architect. I Just Wanted To Make Things. Whether It Was Furniture, Painting, Interior Design, Or Architecture. I Just Wanted To Create Something.

I Think Of The Past And The Future As Well As The Present To Determine Where I Am, And I Move On While Thinking Of These Things.

In Architecture There Is A Part That Is The Result Of Logical Reasoning And A Part That Is Created Through The Senses. There Is Always A Point Where They Clash. I Don't Think Architecture Can Be Created Without That Collision.

Logical Reasoning

You Always Want To Try To Make Something New, And, Of Course, America Is The World Leader In Economics Today.

The Computer Offers Another Kind Of Creativity. You Cannot Ignore The Creativity That Computer Technology Can Bring. But You Need To Be Able To Move Between Those Two Different Worlds.

I Would Like My Architecture To Inspire People To Use Their Own Resources, To Move Into The Future.

My Objective Is To Design A Space That Nobody Else Can Come Up With While Using The Material That Anyone Can Use.

As Long As You Have An Objective In Your Mind You Are Young.

At The Same Time, I Would Add That The American People Have A Lot Of Courage.

There Is A Role And Function For Beauty In Our Time.

All Architecture Has A Public Nature, I Believe, So I Would Like To Make A Public Space.

I Believe That The Way People Live Can Be Directed A Little By Architecture.

Italy Is Full Of Historical Buildings. And Europe Holds A Great History Of Philosophy From Greece Until Today. I Read All Those Books And See These Buildings, And I Think Of Where I Stand When I Design My Architecture.

My Hand Is The Extension Of The Thinking Process - The Creative Process.

We Borrow From Nature The Space Upon Which We Build.

I Like Ruins Because What Remains Is Not The Total Design, But The Clarity Of Thought, The Naked Structure, The Spirit Of The Thing.

I Would Like My Architecture To Inspire People To Use Their Own Resources, To Move Into The Future.

People Tend Not To Use This Word Beauty Because It's Not Intellectual - But There Has To Be An Overlap Between Beauty And Intellect.

I Don't Look So Closely At Women's Fashion, But From The 20th Century On, People Have Had The Freedom To Express Themselves And Their Individualities, And Fashion Is One Of The Most Fundamental Ways In Which They Do This, Men And Women Are Equally Able To Express Themselves.

Italy Is Full Of Historical Buildings. And Europe Holds A Great History Of Philosophy From Greece Until Today. I Read All Those Books And See These Buildings, And I Think Of Where I Stand When I Design My Architecture.

I Take The Museum Space Also As Sacred In A Sense.

Japanese Traditional Architecture Is Created Based On These Conditions. This Is The Reason You Have A Very High Degree Of Connection Between The Outside And Inside In Architecture.

In Japan, There Is Less A Culture Of Preserving Old Buildings Than In Europe.

The Speed Of Change Makes You Wonder What Will Become Of Architecture.

But Now, More And More, Its Society Is Concerned With Economy And Finance.

I Like Ruins Because What Remains Is Not The Total Design, But The Clarity Of Thought, The Naked Structure, The Spirit Of The Thing.

In The West There Has Always Been The Attempt To Try Make The Religious Building, Whether It's A Medieval Or Renaissance Church, An Eternal Object For The Celebration Of God. The Material Chosen, Such As Stone, Brick, Or Concrete, Is Meant To Eternally Preserve What Is Inside.

My Hand Is The Extension Of The Thinking Process - The Creative Process.

In The West There Has Always Been The Attempt To Try Make The Religious Building, Whether It's A Medieval Or Renaissance Church, An Eternal Object For The Celebration Of God. The Material Chosen, Such As Stone, Brick, Or Concrete, Is Meant To Eternally Preserve What Is Inside.

I Don't Look So Closely At Women's Fashion, But From The 20th Century On, People Have Had The Freedom To Express Themselves And Their Individualities, And Fashion Is One Of The Most Fundamental Ways In Which They Do This, Men And Women Are Equally Able To Express Themselves.

In Architecture There Is A Part That Is The Result Of Logical Reasoning And A Part That Is Created Through The Senses. There Is Always A Point Where They Clash. I Don't Think Architecture Can Be Created Without That Collision.

Logical Reasoning

Working In Tokyo Has Convinced Me That, Contrary To What People Think, It Is Actually One Of The World's Most Beautiful Cities.

In Italy, There Are So Many Significant Architectural Structures In History Such As The Pantheon In Rome, Or The Duomo.

You Always Want To Try To Make Something New, And, Of Course, America Is The World Leader In Economics Today.

When I Design Buildings, I Think Of The Overall Composition, Much As The Parts Of A Body Would Fit Together. On Top Of That, I Think About How People Will Approach The Building And Experience That Space.

I Hope That America As A Whole, And Especially Its Architects, Will Become More Seriously Involved In Producing A New Architectural Culture That Would Bring The Nation To The Apex - Where It Has Stood Before - And Lead The World.

When I Design Buildings, I Think Of The Overall Composition, Much As The Parts Of A Body Would Fit Together. On Top Of That, I Think About How People Will Approach The Building And Experience That Space.

There Are Self-made Millionaires - Their Aspiration Is First To Make Money. But The Once That Goal Is Achieved, They Have To Look For Something And Sometimes They Become Patrons Of Art Or Museums. And That Is How The World Should Go.

I Create Enclosed Spaces Mainly By Means Of Thick Concrete Walls. The Primary Reason Is To Create A Place For The Individual, A Zone For Oneself Within Society. When The External Factors Of A City's Environment Require The Wall To Be Without Openings, The Interior Must Be Especially Full And Satisfying.

Since I Am A Japanese Man Who's Been Building Through The Experience Of Japanese Architecture, My Actual Designs Come From Japanese Architectural Concepts, Although They're Based On Western Methods And Materials.

I Create Enclosed Spaces Mainly By Means Of Thick Concrete Walls. The Primary Reason Is To Create A Place For The Individual, A Zone For Oneself Within Society. When The External Factors Of A City's Environment Require The Wall To Be Without Openings, The Interior Must Be Especially Full And Satisfying.

We Borrow From Nature The Space Upon Which We Build.

People Tend Not To Use This Word Beauty Because It's Not Intellectual - But There Has To Be An Overlap Between Beauty And Intellect.

Working In Tokyo Has Convinced Me That, Contrary To What People Think, It Is Actually One Of The World's Most Beautiful Cities.

When You Look At Japanese Traditional Architecture, You Have To Look At Japanese Culture And Its Relationship With Nature. You Can Actually Live In A Harmonious, Close Contact With Nature - This Very Unique To Japan.

Without This Spirit, Modernist Architecture Cannot Fully Exist. Since There Is Often A Mismatch Between The Logic And The Spirit Of Modernism, I Use Architecture To Reconcile The Two.

As Long As You Have An Objective In Your Mind You Are Young.

But Now, More And More, Its Society Is Concerned With Economy And Finance.

Japanese Architecture Is Traditionally Based On Wooden Structures That Need Renovating On A Regular Basis.

Without This Spirit, Modernist Architecture Cannot Fully Exist. Since There Is Often A Mismatch Between The Logic And The Spirit Of Modernism, I Use Architecture To Reconcile The Two.

Spiritual Space Is Lost In Gaining Convenience. I Saw The Need To Create A Mixture Of Japanese Spiritual Culture And Modern Western Architecture.

I Take The Museum Space Also As Sacred In A Sense.

Look At London Or Paris: They're Both Filthy. You Don't Get That In Tokyo. The Proud Residents Look After Their City.

There Are Self-made Millionaires - Their Aspiration Is First To Make Money. But The Once That Goal Is Achieved, They Have To Look For Something And Sometimes They Become Patrons Of Art Or Museums. And That Is How The World Should Go.

All Those Involved In The Construction Of An Architectural Design, From The Architect To The Builder, Have An Attachment To The Architecture, Although It's Difficult To Quantify The Attachment.

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