Top 55 Quotes & Sayings by Tadao Ando

Italy is full of historical buildings. And Europe holds a great history of philosophy from Greece until today. I read all those books and see these buildings, and I think of where I stand when I design my architecture.

I would like my architecture to inspire people to use their own resources, to move into the future.

People tend not to use this word beauty because it's not intellectual - but there has to be an overlap between beauty and intellect.

Spiritual space is lost in gaining convenience. I saw the need to create a mixture of Japanese spiritual culture and modern western architecture.

Since I am a Japanese man who's been building through the experience of Japanese architecture, my actual designs come from Japanese architectural concepts, although they're based on Western methods and materials.

The level of detail and craft is something that's inscribed within the original design concept. And so when I begin to draw, I know what kind of detailing I want the building to have.

At the same time, I would add that the American people have a lot of courage.

I don't look so closely at women's fashion, but from the 20th century on, people have had the freedom to express themselves and their individualities, and fashion is one of the most fundamental ways in which they do this, men and women are equally able to express themselves.

If I can create some space that people haven't experienced before and if it stays with them or gives them a dream for the future, that's the kind of structure I seek to create.

In Italy, there are so many significant architectural structures in history such as the Pantheon in Rome, or the Duomo.

Japanese traditional architecture is created based on these conditions. This is the reason you have a very high degree of connection between the outside and inside in architecture.

I hope America can also be the cultural leader of the world, and use this frontier spirit to lead and show others that we need courage to go places where we have not gone before.

In the West there has always been the attempt to try make the religious building, whether it's a Medieval or Renaissance church, an eternal object for the celebration of God. The material chosen, such as stone, brick, or concrete, is meant to eternally preserve what is inside.

Look at London or Paris: they're both filthy. You don't get that in Tokyo. The proud residents look after their city.

The speed of change makes you wonder what will become of architecture.

There is a role and function for beauty in our time.

I believe that architecture is fundamentally a public space where people can gather and communicate, think about the history, think about the lives of human beings, or the world.

I think of the past and the future as well as the present to determine where I am, and I move on while thinking of these things.

In Japan, there is less a culture of preserving old buildings than in Europe.

I am interested in things happening around me, and I need to understand what's going on in other artistic sectors like music and literature.

When I design buildings, I think of the overall composition, much as the parts of a body would fit together. On top of that, I think about how people will approach the building and experience that space.

When you look at Japanese traditional architecture, you have to look at Japanese culture and its relationship with nature. You can actually live in a harmonious, close contact with nature - this very unique to Japan.

You always want to try to make something new, and, of course, America is the world leader in economics today.

I hope that America as a whole, and especially its architects, will become more seriously involved in producing a new architectural culture that would bring the nation to the apex - where it has stood before - and lead the world.

All architecture has a public nature, I believe, so I would like to make a public space.

You cannot simply put something new into a place. You have to absorb what you see around you, what exists on the land, and then use that knowledge along with contemporary thinking to interpret what you see.

But in Japan, there's nothing like that, since the temple is made of wood. The divine spirit inside the building is eternal, so the enclosure doesn't have to be.

Japanese architecture is traditionally based on wooden structures that need renovating on a regular basis.

Without this spirit, Modernist architecture cannot fully exist. Since there is often a mismatch between the logic and the spirit of Modernism, I use architecture to reconcile the two.

Working in Tokyo has convinced me that, contrary to what people think, it is actually one of the world's most beautiful cities.

The computer offers another kind of creativity. You cannot ignore the creativity that computer technology can bring. But you need to be able to move between those two different worlds.

I believe that the way people live can be directed a little by architecture.

My hand is the extension of the thinking process - the creative process.

If you give people nothingness, they can ponder what can be achieved from that nothingness.

If there is only one culture all over the world, that's not a good thing.

You can't really say what is beautiful about a place, but the image of the place will remain vividly with you.

When I draw something, the brain and the hands work together.

All those involved in the construction of an architectural design, from the architect to the builder, have an attachment to the architecture, although it's difficult to quantify the attachment.

I think architecture becomes interesting when it has a double character, that is, when it is as simple as possible but, at the same time as complex as possible

I want to create a space that moves people. It doesn't matter if it is a house, or a museum, or whatever. So, it is somebody sitting on that lawn, just going around and around and feeling really happy. That is something that I'm striving for.

In all my works, light is an important controlling factor.

We borrow from nature the space upon which we build.

It wasn't that I had any great dream of being an architect. I just wanted to make things. Whether it was furniture, painting, interior design, or architecture. I just wanted to create something.

But now, more and more, its society is concerned with economy and finance.

No matter how advanced society becomes, institutionally or technologically, a house in which nature can be sensed represents for me the ideal environment in which to live. From a functional viewpoint, the courtyard of the Rowhouse in Sumiyoshi forces the inhabitant to endure the occasional hardships. At the same time, however, the open courtyard is capable of becoming the house's vital organ, introducing the everyday life and assimilating precious stimuli such as changes in nature.

My objective is to design a space that nobody else can come up with while using the material that anyone can use.

There are self-made millionaires - their aspiration is first to make money. But the once that goal is achieved, they have to look for something and sometimes they become patrons of art or museums. And that is how the world should go.

As long as you have an objective in your mind you are young.

I think everyone needs a goal. And what kind of goal will be important. And for that we have to study and we have to be intelligent.

I take the museum space also as sacred in a sense.

I don't believe architecture has to speak too much. It should remain silent and let nature in the guise of sunlight and wind

I create enclosed spaces mainly by means of thick concrete walls. The primary reason is to create a place for the individual, a zone for oneself within society. When the external factors of a city's environment require the wall to be without openings, the interior must be especially full and satisfying.

I like ruins because what remains is not the total design, but the clarity of thought, the naked structure, the spirit of the thing.

In Architecture there is a part that is the result of Logical Reasoning and a part that is created through the Senses. There is always a point where they Clash. I don't think Architecture can be created without that Collision.

I think that capitalism has just gone too far. And it is actually not limited to the United States. The excesses of capitalism is making us suffer all over the world right now.