英语名人堂：安藤忠雄
Tadao Ando was born in 1941 in Osaka, Japan. He is a prolific architect and is in demand the world over. He designs buildings using his distinctive approach to architecture. His style uses simple forms, lots of exposed concrete, and the creative use of natural light. People describe his work as ‘international modernism’. A leading architectural critic said: "Ando is right in the Japanese tradition.”
Ando spent his childhood making wood models. He spent hours in a carpenter’s shop across the street and learnt many techniques from the craftsmen. After leaving school he drifted from job to job. He was a truck driver and tried his luck as a boxer. He eventually got into architecture, even though he had no qualifications.
Ando began teaching himself the principles of designing buildings. He visited temples andshrines in Kyoto and Nara to get a feel for traditional Japanese architecture. He also travelled to Europe to sketch the magnificent buildings there. His maiden project was Tomishima House in Osaka in 1973. Twenty years later he completed his first international project – the Japanese Pavilion at Expo92 in Sevilla, Spain.
Ando was first recognized for his work in 1979, when he won the Annual Prize from the Architectural Institute of Japan. In 1995, he scooped the Pritzker Prize – the highest distinction in world architecture. He donated the $100,000 prize money to the orphans of the Kobe earthquake. A housing complex he designed in Kobe survived the earthquake undamaged.
