The star of architecture Tadao Andô 忠雄安藤

Tadao Andô, itinerary of a self-taught architect

From the boxing ring to the most prestigious international architecture prize, this is the extraordinary journey of the Japanese architect, Tadao Ando, who accounts for more than 300 architectural achievements around the world since his beginnings in Osaka in 1969.

International recognition

On his return to Osaka in 1969, he founded his agency and began his work by building small detached houses in the early 1970s.

One of his first achievements, the Azuma house in Sumiyoshi district, will make him the architect to follow. Entirely made of concrete, it occupies a tiny space between traditional-style houses. Ando plays with the narrowness of the land by imagining a house with a blind facade with an interior courtyard space that allows its occupants to escape the urban madness. Completed in 1976, it will be crowned with the Prize of the Institute of Architecture of Japan in 1979. Tadao Ando acquired the property in 1982 to base the headquarters of his architectural firm.

The 1990s are synonymous with consecration. He created the Japanese pavilion for the Seville Universal Exhibition in 1992; the most noticed and visited the pavilion. The largest museums in the world are already devoting major retrospectives to him: the MOMA in New York in 1991 and the Center Georges Pompidou in 1993. After receiving the very prestigious Pritzker Prize in 1995, he was appointed full professor at the University of Tokyo; the self-taught architect!

azuma-house-tadao-ando

Azuma House (1976), Osaka

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