Concrete: Ando’s Timeless Medium
To Ando, concrete is not so much a construction material as a canvas. The architect does not so much build as sculpt, as one would, say, marble, to produce spaces-is it tactile as much as…visually arresting. That was how Ando started his life as a professional in architecture: limit material palette and geometry, and let light break.
Moto-Azabu House-Space Two is characterized by crossing L-shaped walls that produce a dramatic play of light and shadow. The first wall runs along the southwestern edge of a site, whereas the second, tilted slightly inward, creates those portions which appear to be naturally lit from above. These corners reveal some of the amazing furniture pieces collected by the art collector with several pieces produced by Charlotte Perriand and Jean Prouvé.
It symbolizes that Ando is very meticulous by preparing varnished wood molds with which he would make concrete blocks. Now recognized in the architectural world, this process creates super smooth surfaces free of roughness that many people would consider to be concrete. All seams and joints are extremely well aligned, and it actually embraces tie holes-derived from casting-as part of the aesthetics. It speaks about his commitment to the aesthetic of structure-where even mundane could turn beauty.
Extension of Life as Space
What in Ando’s view is not architecture is merely providing a roof over the head; “Houses assist the needs and actions of everyday life.” Says Ando, “That is architecture’s highest potential.” Such dreams are entirely realized in this particular house, Moto-Azabu, which has been designed into every nook and cranny in order to enhance living space. It is thus a space that appears not only grand and intimate but contemporary yet timeless, something other principles which have shaped Ando’s earlier works would echo.
Ando’s early work is to be compared quite closely to his work now. His first big architectural undertaking was that which he undertook in Osaka-the rowhouse: It is the first sight for many visitors to his accompanied austere raw concrete structures combined with serene beauty to create a conscious minimalism. More of it imparts itself to the Moto-Azabu house where the purity of form and the fine play of light come together to form a space linked as living beyond its material origin.
Tadao Ando: A Legacy in Concrete and Light
Born in poverty in Osaka, Ando’s ascent to architectural glory is already legendary. Self-taught and greatly influenced by his early awareness of Le Corbusier’s works, Ando would seek to forge a path for himself. His projects like that of the famous Church of the Light in Osaka and the Naoshima Island museum place him among the best of contemporary world architects and culminate into the Pritzker Prize conferred to him in 1995.
Ando’s advantage is in the invocation of a profound beauty that emanates from simplicity. While he continues with claims on the most publicized works in architecture, he believes that architecture is not only for any kind of covering but for uplifting events in daily life.
The Changing Face of Ando’s Career
While Ando continues to amaze with his new designs, of late, several of his works-including the Nolita residential building on liberal New Yorker-indulged in some controversy. The structure is seen by some critics as a departure from the architect’s typical tactile, meditative designs since it brings together glass and concrete. But Ando is ever adamant in his belief that the strength of architecture doesn’t lie in its size or scale but in the very act of designing it.
It’s never the size of the building for Ando; it’s always about the idea it represents and how it relates to the people that live inside it. The Moto-Azabu home stands as an example or counter-argument to that proposition, which maintains that even the most luxurious settings can have within them all the essential qualities of architecture-simple, serene, organic relationship with the environment.
Concrete Future
Tadao Ando undoubtedly does not stop, though. His sharp architectural view continues to remain unperturbed, while his latest projects still hold the testimony to the change and evolution of his thoughts in concrete and light presentation. Leaving space up to light as he does testify within the Moto-Azabu house, Ando proves once again that his material of choice-concrete-works wonders not only transforming but transforming how one experiences the surroundings.
Indeed, whether grand museums or small residences, Ando’s work has a universal meaning: that beauty shall long endure not in excesses but in subtle, harmonious balance between form, function, and material. The Moto-Azabu home is testament to that philosophy: a concrete sanctuary that manifests what Tadao Ando’s architecture genius is all about.
