Tadao Ando Hon RA (b. 1941)

Tadao Ando, born in 1941, is one of the most renowned contemporary Japanese architects.

Characteristics of his work include large expanses of unadorned architectural concrete walls combined with wooden or stone floors and large windows. Active natural elements, like sun, rain, and wind are a distinctive inclusion to his style. He has designed many notable buildings, including Row House in Sumiyoshi, Osaka, 1976, which gave him the Annual Prize of Architectural Institute of Japan in 1979. He has also designed the Church of the Light in Osaka, 1989, the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, 2001, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, in Texas, 2002 and 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT in Tokyo, 2007. Most recently, he has designed the Punta della Dogana, Venice, 2009 and Shanghai Poly Theater, 2014.

Among the many awards he has received are; Gold Medal of Architecture, Académie d’Architecture (French Academy of Architecture) in 1989, The Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995, Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 2002, Gold Medal of Union Internationale des Architectes in 2005, Commandeur de l‘Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2013 and Grande Ufficiale dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia in 2015.

He was also a visiting professor at Yale, Columbia, UC Barkeley, and Harvard Universities. He received the Japanese Order of Culture in 2010.

Profile

Honorary RA

Born: 1941 in Osaka, Japan

Nationality: Japanese

Elected Hon RA: 29 May 2002

Gender: Male

Preferred media: Architecture

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