Tadao Ando

Tadao Ando

26 quotes

Architect and wordsmith — Tadao Ando (b. 1941) is a Japanese voice whose observations cut across disciplines. Their thinking spans from Architecture to Design, revealing a mind that refused to stay in one lane. Discover 33 of Tadao Ando's most memorable quotes, ranging across Architecture, Design, Future, Beauty, and Hope. A favorite of many readers: "If you give people nothingness, they can ponder what can be achieved from that nothingness."

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“Spiritual space is lost in gaining convenience. I saw the need to create a mixture of Japanese spiritual culture and modern western architecture.”

— Tadao Ando

Architecture

All Quotes by Tadao Ando

“At the same time, I would add that the American people have a lot of courage.”

— Tadao Ando

Courage

“All those involved in the construction of an architectural design, from the architect to the builder, have an attachment to the architecture, although it's difficult to quantify the attachment.”

— Tadao Ando

Architecture

“I think of the past and the future as well as the present to determine where I am, and I move on while thinking of these things.”

— Tadao Ando

Future

“There is a role and function for beauty in our time.”

— Tadao Ando

Beauty

“Japanese traditional architecture is created based on these conditions. This is the reason you have a very high degree of connection between the outside and inside in architecture.”

— Tadao Ando

Architecture

“I hope America can also be the cultural leader of the world, and use this frontier spirit to lead and show others that we need courage to go places where we have not gone before.”

— Tadao Ando

Courage

“The speed of change makes you wonder what will become of architecture.”

— Tadao Ando

Architecture

“You can't really say what is beautiful about a place, but the image of the place will remain vividly with you.”

— Tadao Ando

Beauty

“But now, more and more, its society is concerned with economy and finance.”

— Tadao Ando

Finance

“People tend not to use this word beauty because it's not intellectual - but there has to be an overlap between beauty and intellect.”

— Tadao Ando

Beauty

“I would like my architecture to inspire people to use their own resources, to move into the future.”

— Tadao Ando

Architecture

“The computer offers another kind of creativity. You cannot ignore the creativity that computer technology can bring. But you need to be able to move between those two different worlds.”

— Tadao Ando

Technology

“I hope that America as a whole, and especially its architects, will become more seriously involved in producing a new architectural culture that would bring the nation to the apex - where it has stood before - and lead the world.”

— Tadao Ando

Hope

“If you give people nothingness, they can ponder what can be achieved from that nothingness.”

— Tadao Ando

Architecture

“I believe that the way people live can be directed a little by architecture.”

— Tadao Ando

Architecture

“Without this spirit, Modernist architecture cannot fully exist. Since there is often a mismatch between the logic and the spirit of Modernism, I use architecture to reconcile the two.”

— Tadao Ando

Architecture

“You cannot simply put something new into a place. You have to absorb what you see around you, what exists on the land, and then use that knowledge along with contemporary thinking to interpret what you see.”

— Tadao Ando

Knowledge

“Italy is full of historical buildings. And Europe holds a great history of philosophy from Greece until today. I read all those books and see these buildings, and I think of where I stand when I design my architecture.”

— Tadao Ando

Architecture

“When I design buildings, I think of the overall composition, much as the parts of a body would fit together. On top of that, I think about how people will approach the building and experience that space.”

— Tadao Ando

Design

“I don't look so closely at women's fashion, but from the 20th century on, people have had the freedom to express themselves and their individualities, and fashion is one of the most fundamental ways in which they do this, men and women are equally able to express themselves.”

— Tadao Ando

Freedom