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Tadao Ando
KEY FIGURESintermediate
Definition
Japanese self-taught architect (born 1941), winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize. Ando is known for his meditative use of smooth concrete, natural light, water, and geometry. His buildings create powerful contrasts — compressed then released, dark then light — drawing on traditional Japanese spatial sensibility.
Example
The Church of the Light in Osaka (1989) is one of the most celebrated small buildings in architecture — a bare concrete box in which a cross-shaped opening in the wall floods the interior with shifting daylight.