Tadao Ando on Light, Concrete, and Naoshima in Whitewall Interview

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando discusses his philosophy and upcoming projects in a Whitewall cover story. Ando, self-taught and raised in postwar Osaka, emphasizes that architecture is made by pursuing light alone, citing Le Corbusier's Ronchamp as an influence. He describes concrete as an economical material with unlimited plastic potential, refined to a smooth surface responsive to Japanese sensibilities. On Naoshima, where he has completed ten projects including the new Naoshima New Museum of Art, Ando explains the island evolved without a master plan through dialogue between architecture, art, and nature, sustained by Soichiro Fukutake's passion. Upcoming works include an extension to the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands, conversion of a former cement factory in China, the new State Museum of Art in Uzbekistan, and a museum in the Middle East. Ando states his buildings should be remembered not as architecture but as landscapes, and defines success as the ability to continue working. He remains based in Osaka, living in a modest apartment near his atelier.