Atlas - Tadao Ando

This highly original and personal exploration of Tadao Ando s work, one of Japan s leading architects, traverses both the physical and spiritual world.

In 2012, Philippe Se clier visited Tadao Ando s iconic Church of the Light, and was immediately compelled to journey around the world to further study the architect s buildings. This unique presentation of Ando s work is the result of what turned into a nine-year project to photograph 130 buildings. Walking around each structure, trying to find the proper framing, helped Séclier understand Ando s genius for siting and composition. Loosely organized by chronology, each building is represented in numerous black and white images, arranged like a mosaic on the page. These fragmented views correspond to Ando s own philosophy of the logic of structure and geometry. This »atlas« embraces not only the geographic but also thematic range of Ando s oeuvre from transit stations in Tokyo and Kobe to art museums in Fort Worth, Texas and Provence, France; from an artists retreat on the Mexican coast to the now-demolished Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester, England; from a theater in Milan, Italy, to an upscale restaurant in New York City. Se clier s photographs of Ando s numerous religious structures brilliantly illustrate his use of light and shadow to evoke spiritual depth and timelessness while his short texts offer concise observations of each building. A helpful appendix pinpoints the geographic diversity and range of Ando s oeuvre.