Biography
Tadao Ando became interested in boxing at an early age, which he also made his profession. After his time as a professional boxer, he trained himself as an architect in the 1960s by traveling to Europe, the USA and Africa. At the end of the decade, in 1969, he opened his own architectural firm "Tadao Ando Architect & Associates" in Osaka. In the 1980s, Ando designed three churches dedicated to the natural elements of wind, water and light. The Church of the Wind was built in Kobe in 1986, the Church on the Water in Hokkaido in 1988 and the Church of Light in Osaka in 1989. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Naoshima, Japan, built in 1992, was also designed by Ando. The Japanese architect planned a conference and meeting building for the Vitra company in Weil am Rhein, which was completed in 1993. In 1995, the self-taught architect received the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, which is considered the unofficial Nobel Prize in the industry.
In 1996, a Benetton research center was built in Treviso, Italy, based on Ando's plans. In 2001 Ando won the competition for the exhibition building of the "Foundation d''art contemporain François Pinault" near Paris. The museum will one day house the large art collection of the industrialist François Pinault, which can then be admired there from 2006. Among other things, Ando also designed the buildings: Wall House - Matsumoto House in Ashiya (1976-1977), Kidosaki House in Tokyo, Bigi Atelier Building in Tokyo (1983), Time's Building in Kyoto (1983-1984), Museum for Children in Hyogo (1989), Kyoto train station (1991), convention center in Nara (1992), the Japanese pavilion at the 1992 Expo in Seville, Ayabe Community Center in Ayabe-shi (1993-1995), meditation center for UNESCO in Paris ( 1996), Toto Seminary Building in Tsuna-gun (1996) and the Sunday School in Ibaraki (1999).
Ando's other awards include the Annual Prize (1979) of the Architectural Institute of Japan, the Japanese Cultural Design Prize (1983), the Alvar Aalto Medal (1985), the Annual Award of the Japanese Ministry of Education (1986), the Mainichi, among others Art Prize (1987), the Isoya Yoshida Award (1988), the gold medal of the Académie Francaise de l''Architecture (1989) and the Osaka Art Prize (1990).
