Tadao Ando Quotes

I don't believe architecture has to speak too much. It should remain silent and let nature in the guise of sunlight and wind

I think architecture becomes interesting when it has a double character, that is, when it is as simple as possible but, at the same time as complex as possible

We borrow from nature the space upon which we build.

If I can create some space that people haven't experienced before and if it stays with them or gives them a dream for the future, that's the kind of structure I seek to create.

My objective is to design a space that nobody else can come up with while using the material that anyone can use.

In all my works, light is an important controlling factor.

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

It wasn't that I had any great dream of being an architect. I just wanted to make things. Whether it was furniture, painting, interior design, or architecture. I just wanted to create something.

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

As long as you have an objective in your mind you are young.

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

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.

My hand is the extension of the thinking process - the creative process.

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.

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

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

Working in Tokyo has convinced me that, contrary to what people think, it is actually one of the world's most beautiful cities.

I take the museum space also as sacred in a sense.

When I draw something, the brain and the hands work together.

All architecture has a public nature, I believe, so I would like to make a public space.

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.

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

Japanese architecture is traditionally based on wooden structures that need renovating on a regular basis.

I think everyone needs a goal. And what kind of goal will be important. And for that we have to study and we have to be intelligent.

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

I am interested in things happening around me, and I need to understand what's going on in other artistic sectors like music and literature.

If there is only one culture all over the world, that's not a good thing.

The level of detail and craft is something that's inscribed within the original design concept. And so when I begin to draw, I know what kind of detailing I want the building to have.

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.

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

In Italy, there are so many significant architectural structures in history such as the Pantheon in Rome, or the Duomo.

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

In Japan, there is less a culture of preserving old buildings than in Europe.

Look at London or Paris: they're both filthy. You don't get that in Tokyo. The proud residents look after their city.

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

I think that capitalism has just gone too far. And it is actually not limited to the United States. The excesses of capitalism is making us suffer all over the world right now.

You always want to try to make something new, and, of course, America is the world leader in economics today.

I believe that architecture is fundamentally a public space where people can gather and communicate, think about the history, think about the lives of human beings, or the world.