Tadao Ando : The Colours of Light

by Tadao Andō

Tadao the Colours of light is a landmark in architectural publishing. An exquisite work of art in its own right, it is the result of ten years' collaboration between the English photographer Richard Pare and the internationally renowned architect Tadao Ando. Japan's leading architect, Tadao Ando (b 1941) was recently awarded the 1995 Pritzker Architecture Prize for his 'consistent and significant contributions to the built environment'. This book includes twenty-seven of Ando's buildings, completed over the last decade, including such notable projects as the Kidosaki House, Tokyo, 1986, the Church on the Water, Hokkaido, 1988, the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum and Annexe, 1992 and 1995, and the recently completed buildings for Benetton in Treviso, Italy, 1995, and the Meditation Space for Unesco, Paris, 1995.
Richard Pare's images break with previous conventions of architectural representation; they convey his interest in distilling the 'essence' of Tadao Ando's buildings rather than producing literal portraits. Pare concentrates on the subtle effects that natural light has on architecture; working without the aid of artificial effects he captures as directly as possible the colour and atmosphere of Ando's spaces.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Japan, Reference, Design, Art

263 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1996

About the author

Tadao Ando is a Japanese self-taught architect. Tadao Ando's body of work is known for the creative use of natural light and for structures that follow natural forms of the landscape, rather than disturbing the landscape by making it conform to the constructed space of a building. Ando's buildings are often characterized by complex three-dimensional circulation paths. These paths interweave between interior and exterior spaces formed both inside large-scale geometric shapes and in the spaces between them.

Reviews

[Nouran Osama · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to all architects who feel stuck. We are all stuck one way or the other. When I started it, I thought I would be only admiring Tadao Ando's architecture. The clear geomtry and the interesting spaces that happen through their intersection, the connection with the surroundings and interplay of materials and light or the building being a series of experiences. But it helped me think about other things. Like how new building prototypes are a major contribution to good architecture. Or how an architect can maintain personality but come up with different outcomes each time. It is also a good intorduction to architecture photography.

[Afra Anan Anan Saba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully curated piece of work. A dialogue between the photographer, the architect, and the architectural marvels.

[Jude · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful photographies of Tadao Ando's work. The introduction on Tadao Ando's architecture and philosophy does a great job at setting the scene for Richard Pare's work. A great collaboration!

[Rebecca Hays · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard to get the scope or feel in the small edition.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The mini edition is too small to really appreciate. It also seems like the photographer took all his photos on cloudy days and the architecture doesn't really pop.

[Mitya Haliimah · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book contains the works of Tadao Ando. in the front pages we will be presented by his thoughts about architecture and the philosophy of his works, then follows with the photographs of his works. reading this book will make us learn to 'read' through photographs about how Tadao Ando manages to blend his architecture within the surrounding, and how he engages the natural elements especially the light as a part of his buildings.

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful.

[Windry · Rating 3 out of 5]

covernya bagus :D