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Langen Foundation in Neuss in Germany
What impresses me most about Ando is
not monumentality —because he does
not seek it— but his way of making the
invisible visible. Emptiness is not ab-
sence, but a space full of intention. His
constructions do not shout; they whis-
per. He avoids ornament and trusts in
the beauty of the material.
The legacy of silence
Back in Osaka, I visit his studio, a small
office where concrete and books coexist
in rigorous order. There is no ostenta-
tion, only drawings, models and silence.
Behind every wall, every perfect joint,
there is an almost artisanal precision,
an almost spiritual discipline.
I then understand that visiting Ando’s
work is not about touring buildings, but
about entering a way of thinking. Each
work is a dialogue between the built and
the natural, between the body and the
soul. In his temples, museums or priva-
te houses, one feels the same sensa-
tion: architecture as a refuge for cons-
ciousness, a place where time stops.
DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE
Interior of Tadao Ando’s architecture studio
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