Tadao Ando Named 1995 Laureate

Tadao Ando, a 53 year old architect who lives and works in Osaka, Japan,was named the
eighteenth Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In making the announcement, Jay
A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the award in 1979,
quoted from the jury's citation which describes Ando's architecture as "an assemblage of
artistically composed surprises in space and form . . . that both serve and inspire. . . with
never a predictable moment as one moves throughout his buildings.

"Ando is the third Japanese architect to be selected for his profession's highest honor
which carries a $100,000 grant. The formal presentation was made on May 22 in the
Grand Trianon Palace at Versailles, France.
Pritzker affirmed the jury's choice, saying, "Ando conceives his projects as places of
habitation not as abstract designs in a landscape. It is not surprising that he is often
referred to by his professional peers and critics as being as much a builder as an
architect. That emphasizes how important he considers craftsmanship in accomplishing
his designs. He requires absolute precision in the making and casting of his concrete
forms to achieve the smooth, clean and perfect concrete for his structures."
Even though nearly all of his projects make use of cement as the primary building
material, he was a carpenter's apprentice for short time where he learned the
craftsmanship of traditional Japanese wooden construction. In fact, one of his most
widely known structures was built almost entirely of wood, the Japanese Pavilion for
Expo '92 in Spain.
Most of Ando's projects have been in Japan, concentrated mainly in the Osaka area
where he was born, raised and currently lives and works. In addition to a number of
inspiring religious structures, he has designed museums, commercial buildings that
include offices, factories and shopping centers. His professional career began, however,
with residential projects.
One of his first commissions was for a small row house in 1977 in his native Osaka, called
Azuma House, which received the top prize of the Architectural Institute of Japan in
1979. He has designed a number of significant homes -- for single and multiple families --
sometimes for mixed commercial/residential use, as well as apartment complexes.
Bill Lacy, executive director for the international panel of jurors that elects the Laureate
each year, quoted further from the formal citation from the jury which states, "Ando has
accomplished an extraordinary body of work. His powerful inner vision ignores whatever
movements, schools or styles that might be current, creating buildings with form and
composition related to the kind of life that will be lived there.
Lacy, who is an architect himself and president of the State University of New York at
Purchase, elaborated, "A key part of Ando's architectural philosophy is the creation of
boundaries within which he can create introspective domains, encapsulating space where
people can interrelate to light and shadow, wind and water, away from the surrounding
urban chaos.
The selection of Ando marks the third Pritzker Laureate from Japan. KenzoTange was
the first in 1987 and Fumihiko Maki in 1993 confirming that country's indelible mark on
twentieth century modernist architecture that was previously almost exclusively
American and European mainstream."

As a self-taught architect, with no architectural degree or even training with a master

architect, Ando attributes his development to extensive reading and a number of study
trips to Europe and the United States to see actual buildings from history. He kept
detailed sketch books of all his travels which he still does to this day.
One of his most important housing projects is called Rokko Housing, which was
accomplished in two phases the first has twenty units each with a terrace but differing in
size and layout, the second, comprising 50 units, was completed in 1993. While the units
appear to be uniform on the outside, each one has a unique interior. Built of reinforced
concrete with a rigid frame, the units are embedded in the side of sixty degree sloping
hillside with a panoramic view of Osaka Bay, and provide such amenities as a swimming
pool and a rooftop plaza. Ando received Japan's Cultural Design Prize in 1983 for this
project.
Ando's other residential projects include the three-story Ishihara House in Osaka,
another concrete bearing wall structure with a unique central court surrounded by a
glass block membrane. Another three-story residence is the Horiuchi House which uses a
glass block wall as a freestanding screen between the home and street traffic.
He continues to build residences, always with a sense of sanctuary, but he has broadened
his palette to include other types of structures. Some of these new directions include the
Church of Light and the Church on the Water for Christian worshipers, and the striking
Buddhist Water Temple, entered through a staircase piercing a lotus pond. The
Children's Museum at Hyogo and the Forest of Tombs Museum at Kumamoto are
remarkable examples of his use of stairs and underground space .
In 1993, Ando received the Japan Art Academy Prize; in 1992, the Carlsberg
Architectural Prize in Denmark, adding to the honors already received, including the
French Academy of Architecture's Gold Medal in 1989; the Alvar Aalto Medal in 1985;
the Mainichi Art Prize in 1987 for the Chapel on Mt. Rokko; the Arnold W. Brunner
Memorial Prize, and the Japanese Ministry of Education's prize to encourage new talent
in the fine arts in 1986. Ando is an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British
Architects, the American Institute of Architects, the American Academy and the Institute
of Arts and Letters.
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Ando's Reaction To Being Named

1995 Laureate
Following is a translation of Ando's reaction when notified that he had won the prize.
I am bewildered by the news that I have been selected as a recipient of the 1995 Pritzker
Architecture Prize. The faces of previous prize winners, beginning with Philip Johnson,
keep reappearing in my mind's eye, and I cannot help but wonder about my future
works. Since for me, making architecture is the same as thinking, even more than before,
I will have to pose contemporary questions at the same time as reflecting upon history
and speculating into the future. It is a time for me to brace my own spirit so that I can
actualize increasingly responsible building projects. In the world of rapidly transforming
values, my hope is to help promote both an architecture and a city which embrace
humanity with enduring care and love.
In the early morning of January 17, 1995, we were struck by a horrible earthquake and
the consequent disasters. It was painful for us to see the devastation of the places close to
our heart. In spite of this disaster, it is our small comfort to find that none of the
buildings designed by Tadao Ando located in Kobe and in the area close the fault zone
were damaged. They are all safe. We have over 30 buildings, including the Water Temple
in Awajishima Island (the center of the fault zone), Rokko Housing, I and II, and a
number of private houses and school facilities in the Hansin area. These buildings all
survived and stand firmly.
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Citation from the Jury

Tadao Ando is that rare architect who combines artistic and intellectual sensitivity in a
single individual capable of producing buildings, large and small, that both serve and
inspire . His powerful inner vision, ignores whatever movements, schools or styles that
might be current, creating buildings with form and composition related to the kind of life
that will be lived there.
At an age when most architects are beginning to do their first serious works, Ando has
accomplished an extraordinary body of work, primarily in his native Japan, that already
sets him apart. Working with smooth-as-silk concrete, Ando creates spaces using walls
which he defines as the most basic element of architecture, but also the most enriching.

In spite of his consistent use of materials and the elements of pillar, wall, and vault, his
different combinations of these elements always prove exciting and dynamic. His design
concepts and materials have linked international Modernism to the Japanese tradition of
aesthetics. His dedication and understanding of the importance of craftsmanship have
earned him the appellation of builder as well as architect.

He is accomplishing his self-imposed mission to restore the unity between house and
nature. Using the most basic geometric forms, he creates microcosms for the individual
with ever changing patterns of light. But far more than achieving some abstract design
concept, his architecture is a reflection of a fundamental process of building something
for habitation.
Ando's architecture is an assemblage of artistically composed surprises in space and form.
There is never a predictable moment as one moves through his buildings. He refuses to be
bound by convention. Originality is his medium and his personal view of the world is his
source of inspiration.
The Pritzker Architecture Prize honors Tadao Ando not only for works completed, but
also for future projects that when realized, will most certainly further enrich the art of
architecture.
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1995 Prize Ceremony at the Grand Trianon &

Chateau de Versailles
On May 22, 1995, the Grand Trianon Palace and Chateau of Versailles in France
welcomed guests from around the world for the ceremony presenting The Pritzker
Architecture Prize to Tadao Ando of Japan. The ceremonies have been held all over the
world since The Hyatt Foundation established the award in 1979. The first two were held
in Washington, D.C. at Dumbarton Oaks. Other venues in the United States have been
the National Gallery of Art and the National Building Museum in that city; The
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; in Southern California at the Huntington
Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens; in Chicago at The Art Institute as well
as that city's new Harold Washington Library Center; in Ft. Worth at the Kimbell Art
 Museum, and in Columbus, Indiana, the mid-western community that boasts the greatest
concentration of buildings by architects of world renown. International venues have been
The Palazzo Grassi in Venice, Italy; Goldsmith's Hall in London, England; Todai-ji
Buddhist Temple in Nara, Japan; Prague Castle in the Czech Republic and Palacio de
Iturbide in Mexico City.
Versailles is world famous as France's most lavish palace and gardens, possibly the
greatest monument to absolute monarchy and the culmination of French Classicism. In
the twentieth century, it was the site of the signing of a treaty in 1919 ending the first
world war.
Originally, Louis Xlll built a hunting lodge on the site in 1624. Over most of the rest of
that century, new structures were built and added to by Louis XIV, who in 1682 made it
not only the court residence, but also the seat of government. In fact, Versailles was the
capital of France for nearly a century. It was Louis XIV who had the small palace of stone
and pink marble, known as the Grand Trianon, built in 1687 as a less formal retreat.
Louis XV was still making additions to the Chateau in 1770 when he had Jacques Gabriel
design the opera house.
The architects of the Sun King were Louis Le Vau in the early years, and then Jules
Hardouin-Mansart, who added the enormous north and south wings, the Chapel and the
famous Hall of Mirrors. Charles Le Brun supervised the decoration, and the landscaping
was planned by Le Notre, who also designed the Tuileries Gardens.
The presentation of the Pritzker Architecture Prize was made by Jay A. Pritzker,
president of the Hyatt Foundation, in the Grand Trianon which was being used for the
occasion by special authorization of the President of French Republic. It is usually
reserved for official French government functions.
Following the presentation, ceremony guests continued on to the south wing of the
Chateau of Versailles for a formal dinner served in the Hall of Battles. The Hall of
Battles, some 390 feet long by 43 feet wide, and two stories tall, was built by Louis
Philippe and contains 33 large paintings of historic scenes depicting French victories,
including the earliest by Clovis in 496 AD to the 1809 victory of Napoleon at Wagram.
According to J. Carter Brown, the jury chairman of the Pritzker Prize and director
emeritus of the National Gallery of Art, "By moving the ceremony around the world to
venues with architectural significance, the aims of the Pritzker Prize are served beyond
the primary purpose of singling out one architect each year for the Pritzker honor. We
are paying homage to architects and builders from history. It helps focus the public's
awareness on good architecture and what it can mean to people's lives the underlying goal
of the prize. " He recalled the words of the late Lord Clark of Saltwood, who, when he
was one of the founding jurors of the Pritzker Prize, said of the award: " . . .it will focus
public attention on a branch of human endeavor by which our civilization will be judged
in the future." Lord Clark, an art historian perhaps best known for his television series
and book, Civilisation said further: "A great historical episode can exist in our
imaginations almost entirely in the form of architecture. Very few of us have read the
texts of early Egyptian literature. Yet we feel we know those infinitely remote people
almost as well as our immediate ancestors, chiefly because of their sculpture and
architecture."