Tadao Ando: The Dream Lies within Art
Self-taught architect Tadao Ando has risen to become one of the great influencers of contemporary architecture. Noted for his austere yet varied buildings, which incorporate geometric shapes, smooth exposed concrete, and striking uses of light and nature, Ando continually surprises and inspires the public and his peers through his works, and has been recognized for his achievements with the 1995 Pritzker Architecture Prize and the 2002 Gold Medal of the AIA and Japanese Order of Culture in 2010, among others. In this lecture, he discusses the motivations and inspirations behind his work and explores the dream that lies within art. Followed by a reception and book signing.
Tadao Ando
Tadao Ando, born in 1941 is one of the most renowned contemporary Japanese architects. Characteristics of his work include large expanses of unadorned architectural concrete walls combined with wooden or stone floors and large windows. Active natural elements, like sun, rain, and wind are a distinctive inclusion to his style. He has designed many notable buildings, including Row House in Sumiyoshi, Osaka, 1976, which gave him the Annual Prize of Architectural Institute of Japan in 1979, Church of the Light, Osaka, 1989, Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, 2001, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2002 and 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT in Tokyo, 2007, Punta della Dogana, Venice, 2009. Among many awards he has received are; Gold Medal of Architecture, Académie d’Architecture (French Academy of Architecture) in 1989, The Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995, Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 2002, Gold Medal of Union Internationale des Architectes in 2005, and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2013. Ando is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He was also a visiting professor at Yale, Columbia, UC Berkeley, and Harvard Universities. He received the Japanese Order of Culture in 2010.
Tickets $15/$10 Japan Society members, seniors & students
- Thursday, June 26, 2014
- 6:30 pm