Tadao Ando

Tadao Ando is that rare architect who combines artistic and intellectual sensibility in a single being capable of creating buildings, large and small, that serve and inspire. His powerful interior vision, ignores any movement, school or style that is current, creating buildings with a form and composition in keeping with the kind of life that will be lived in them.

At the age when most architects begin to do their first serious works, Ando has achieved an extraordinary body of work, mainly in his native Japan, which already distinguishes him. Working with silky-smooth concrete, Ando creates spaces out of walls, which he defines as the most basic element of architecture, but also the most enriching. Despite his consistent use of materials and the elements of pillar, wall and vault, his different combinations of these elements are always fascinating and dynamic. His design concepts and materials have linked international Modernism with the Japanese aesthetic tradition. His dedication and understanding of the importance of craftsmanship have earned him the appellation of builder and architect.

He is fulfilling his self-imposed mission to restore the unity between home and nature. Using the most basic geometric shapes, he creates microcosms for the individual with ever-changing patterns of light. But much more than achieving an abstract design concept, his architecture is a reflection of a fundamental process of building something habitable.

Ando's architecture is a set of surprises artistically composed in space and form. There is never a predictable moment as you walk through his buildings. Ando rejects convention. Originality is his medium and his personal vision of the world is his source of inspiration.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize honours Tadao Ando not only for his completed works, but also for future projects which, when realised, will undoubtedly further enrich the art of architecture.