Product Description

This work reveals Tadao Ando's architecture through the medium of Richard Pare's photography. Pare works without the aid of artificial lighting to capture as directly as possible the light, colour and atmosphere of Ando's spaces. The book includes 22 of Ando's buildings from the last eight years and the photographs are accompanied by Ando's sketches, drawings and a brief decription. The introductory essay by Heneghan follows a short piece by Ando himself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1811152 in Books
• Published on: 1996-12
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 263 pages

Amazon.com Review
Tadao Ando, one-time truck driver and boxer, is a self-taught Japanese architect whose winning of the 1995 Pritzker Prize has given him preeminence among his gifted generation. Ando reinvents Japan's architectural tradition in contemporary terms, using minimalist concrete structures of monumental scale, reminiscent of the Brutalist architecture of America's Louis Kahn. Almost all of Ando's works are in Japan, many in his native Osaka. Richard Pare's photographs of Ando's buildings, lovingly reproduced here, have drawn praise from Ando himself, who describes them as having "a phantasmic beauty beyond real time."

From Library Journal
Dramatically understated and immaculately detailed, Ando's architecture interweaves concrete and glass as primary materials and stone, wood, and steel as secondary materials, resulting in Zen understatement, cool elegance, and aesthetic purity. This volume is an apt representation of Ando's work. Pare's photographs describe and reveal the architecture with a level of detail often unseen in architectural photography. A highly informative and thorough introductory essay by architect Tom Heneghan is interspersed with pencil sketches printed on translucent Japanese paper. An appendix describing major projects mixes black-and-white photographs, plans, sections, and elevations with data on building area, structural materials, and construction dates. This material would serve better had it been integrated with Pare's photographs, and an index would have helped. Still, students of modern architecture will delight in Pare's unparalleled portrait of Ando's work.?Paul Glassman, Pratt Inst. Lib., Brooklyn
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
... the magnificent photographs ... come as close to putting you there as any publication is likely to achieve ... poetic images. -- The New York Times Book Review, Martin Filler

Customer Reviews

The Nature of the Unnatural
The sublime architecture of Ando, delivered on a haunting polychromatic plate by R. Pare. The photos discover many of the wonderful uses of space and form Ando masters and manipulates to tame light into a force that is nearly unrivaled by any other modern architect. Certainly it makes the oft ludicrous shapes of several (ahem) "Experienced" LA-types appear clumsy and banal (Basque'ing in their own glory perhaps?). Most wonderful is the way in which he can make one look at the 'ordinary' materials used (exposed concrete, etc.), and focus on the forms themselves; or better, to enjoy the materials in their place. Why a '9' rather than a perfect score? Though less artistic, I would have enjoyed a few more full-shots along with the other photos to better put each structure into a perspective understandable by those of us unable to visit the sites in person.

A good architectural photography book
The value of this book largely depends on how familiar you are with Ando's work. For example, if you have read articles about his Water Temple from architectural magazines, it is really nice to zoom in and take a close look at several details shown in this book. On the other hand, if you don't know Water Temple project, it will be hard for you to catpure the overall structure of this incredible building from this book. Simply put, this book focuses more on photography and details rather than overall structure. You need to study these projects in order to appreciate the details. Of course, the pictures are really nice.

Beautiful little book
Beautiful little portfolio showcasing some of Tadao Ando's best known work. Richard Pare's photographs are excellent. The book's design is also very elegant in its minimalism. A must have.