Tadao Ando

The Visual Language of an Architect Tadao Ando’s sketches and drawings This hugely revealing journey through the mind and memory of one of architecture’s great poets is told in Tadao Ando’s own words. A very personal volume, it traces five decades of prolific creativity, gathering over 750 sketches, models, and technical drawings that reveal the essence of his practice. From the raw immediacy of pencil lines to the precision of technical drawings, witness the evolution of many of his most famous projects— among them Row House in Sumiyoshi, Rokko Housing, Chichu Art Museum, Bourse de Commerce—not as isolated moments of inspiration, but as living architectural projects, shaped by time, travel, and reflection. More than a monograph, this is a map of Ando’s inner landscape. He remembers light of a stone monastery in southern France, the deep spatial resonance of a stepwell in Ahmedabad, and the labyrinthine mystery of cave dwellings in Cappadocia. Experienced during his early travels in his youth, these memories became seeds. Learn how these fragments of experience, filtered through body and emotion, reemerged as intense spatial dramas, rendered in concrete, glass and light. Ando has remained faithful to the fragility of the hand-drawn line. For him, it is not the slick perfection of digital models, but the struggle and spontaneity of sketching that captures the true heartbeat of architecture. This book is both a record and a reverie: a meditation on how buildings begin, and how they belong to the flow of time, to memory, and the enduring pursuit of beauty. Also included is an appendix with a complete listing of Ando’s built and unbuilt projects. In Ando’s own words: “Our imaginations may expand endlessly, shaping the invisible scenes in our minds—this is the never-ending story of architecture.”

A stunning portfolio of work by Japan’s leading contemporary architect, showcasing exquisite photography of 28 extraordinary projects selected by Ando Following the acclaimed first volume in Tadao Ando’s monograph series with Phaidon, Tadao Ando: The Colours of Light (1996), this new volume showcases the continual collaboration between Ando and photographer Richard Pare. Beginning with the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, Missouri, and concluding with the Bourse de Commerce project, located in Paris, the book features Pare’s stunning photographs of 28 contemporary projects in locations around the world, including Japan, Germany, Mexico, South Korea, Italy, and the United States. Pare’s images, most of which have never been published, expertly capture Ando’s quietly powerful approach to architectural design. Created in close collaboration with Ando and his studio, Light and Space opens with a foreword by the architect, an introduction by architect Dominique Perrault, and four original drawings Ando created specifically for this book, printed on thin tissue paper. The Plates section features spare layouts and immersive gatefolds throughout, with Pare’s images offering unique insights into Ando’s acute attention to light and volume and how they engage with one another. An appendix, printed on textured paper, offers additional information about each project, including technical specifications, a brief descriptive text, as well as detailed sections and plans. This clothbound, jacketed book closely aligns with the packaging of the first volume, creating an elegant companion set.