Page "Tadao Ando" Paragraph 4

Unlike most of the religious architecture that mainly focusing on the preservation of history, one of his works, the Komyo-ji Temple in Saijo, Ehime, is made out of wood, which requires maintenance and repair on a regular basis.

However, in the perspective of Japanese culture, the most significant concept of the shrine is to be able to spread the divine spirit from the interior and being able to eternalize it through the architecture.

Besides Japanese religious architecture, Ando also designs Christian Churches, such as the Church of Light ( 1989 ) and the Church in Tarumi ( 1993 ).

Although there are different characteristic between Japanese and Christian churches, Ando treats them with the similar strategy.

In fact, there should be no difference for designing religious architecture and houses.

He explains, “ we do not need to differentiate one from the other.

Dwelling in a house is not only a functional issue, but also a spiritual one.

The house is the locus of mind ( kokoro ), and the mind is the locus of god.

Dwelling in a house is a search for the mind ( kokoro ) as the locus of god, just as one goes to church to search for god.

An important role of the church is to enhance this sense of the spiritual.

In a spiritual place, people find peace in their mind ( kokoro ), as in their homeland ”.

Besides speaking the spirit of the architecture, the association between the nature and the architecture is also his architecture strategy.

As an architect, Ando makes his architecture become a way for people to easily experience the spirit and the beauty of the nature through the architecture.

He thinks architecture is responsible for performing the attitude of the site and then turning it into visible perceptions.

This not only represents his theory of the role of architecture in the society but also shows the reason that he spends so much time studying architecture from his physical experience.