Spirited Osaka business people
Supported an unknown young man, Tadao Ando.
About the blue era

Tadao Ando grew up in downtown Osaka, studied architecture on his own, and established the Tadao Ando Architectural Institute in Umeda in 1969 at the age of 28. Since the 80s, work in Tokyo has increased, and since the 90s, the number of large projects overseas has increased, but Osaka has always been the base. Despite many inconveniences, he did not move to Tokyo and has continued to spread his message to the world from Osaka.

Ando first received a request to design a house in 1971. The client was the younger brother of his friend from school. A small house with a floor area of ​​24 tsubo built using the exposed concrete method was built by replacing one of the four tenement houses at the north end, and Ando later purchased it and continues to use it as an office, continuing to renovate and expand.

``I saw the house featured in ``Urban Housing'' and received a request to design ``Sumiyoshi Nagaya'' (completed in 1975). After that, he received requests from top executives in the Kansai business community, including Keizo Saji of Suntory and Hirotaro Higuchi of Asahi Breweries. They all had the good old Kansai spirit, and they had the courage to entrust me with the job, even though I had little experience."

``I was able to learn a lot from these encounters with free and bold business owners and cultural figures.I had never had any prior experience with the strong feelings expressed by a single person.'' Osaka is a city where there are always people who will respond to your needs.In that sense, you can say that it is an interesting city where people are close to each other.I am also proud to be an Osaka native. That's why I want to work here until I die."

I don't know if it will come true
A passion to make dreams come true
lead to the next step

In 1988, Ando announced a plan to revitalize Osaka City Central Public Hall, a nationally designated important cultural property located in Nakanoshima, Osaka. An urban planning proposal that Ando unilaterally proposed without being asked to do so by anyone. Unfortunately, the government did not accept the bold plan to revitalize the beautiful Neo-Renaissance building by leaving its exterior and structure intact and inserting a concrete egg-shaped hall inside. Amused by this idea, Hirotaro Higuchi, the president of Asahi Breweries at the time, came to visit the office. The exchange that began at this time later led to the Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum. Suntory's rival company Suntory's ``Suntory Museum Tempozan'' (note: current ``Osaka Bunkakan Tempozan'') opened the previous year. We can get a glimpse of the generous nature of Kansai's business owners.

Nakanoshima, the center of Osaka
We will make it with our own hands
With the pride of Osaka people

Nakanoshima, which has prospered as the center of the merchant town of Osaka since the Edo period, is still an important place for Ando. "Children's Book Forest Nakanoshima", scheduled to open in Nakanoshima Park in March 2020, will stimulate the intellectual curiosity of children who will be responsible for the future by creating a "book forest" surrounded by many books. The decision to build the building was inspired by Ando's passion for creating an environment that stimulates the mind.

``In the area around Nakanoshima, which straddles Midosuji and stretches from east to west, town development as a ``crystal of private power'' that is rarely seen in Japan is still vibrantly alive.The Osaka City Central Public Hall, donated by Einosuke Iwamoto, and the Sumitomo House Buildings built by the private sector, such as the Nakanoshima Library, which was donated by the city of Nakanoshima, have become important elements of the cityscape. Inheriting the spirit of civic participation of our predecessors, we have undertaken various initiatives, including cherry tree planting, to make our town beautiful with our own hands. ” is connected to

Don't forget the trajectory of recovery from the earthquake
“Blue apple” looking to the future

Ando is always future-oriented, but there is always an accumulation of past experiences. The second exhibition building "Ando Gallery" opened at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in May 2019, and its purpose is to introduce Ando's past and future work, with a focus on the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake reconstruction projects in which Ando and others have been involved. Made with.

The museum was originally designed as a symbol of cultural recovery after the earthquake and opened in 2002. The museum is one of the largest in western Japan, and has been loved by people both inside and outside the prefecture, as it hosts a variety of events, including plays and music, as well as works of art from Japan and abroad. The plan for the two-story "Ando Gallery" was said to have originated from discussions held around 2017 with Hyogo Prefecture Governor Toshizo Ido and museum director Yutaka Mino. The idea to add a roof between the existing temporary exhibition building and permanent exhibition building was apparently born out of discussions with Governor Ido.

In the wake of the 1995 earthquake, Ando took a boat from Osaka to Kobe Port, suspended his office work for several months, and walked around the disaster area. Ando, ​​who is based in Osaka, has been doing a lot of work in Hyogo Prefecture since the beginning, and when he saw the city destroyed by the earthquake, he was overcome with despair. ``Ando Gallery'' exhibits many models, drawings, and photographs of the reconstruction projects planned at that time. When he looks out the window, he will be impressed by the miraculous reconstruction that has taken place over the past quarter of a century, and will be surprised by the new giant blue apple object installed on the ``Sea Deck.'' .

In fact, this green apple, Ando, ​​has appeared in various places, including the exhibition "Tadao Ando - Challenge" held at Center Pompidou in 2018. Ando says the following about the green apple, which was inspired by Samuel Ullman's ``Poetry of Youth,'' which was introduced to him by former Suntory Chairman Saji Saji when he was young.

``The green apple is a symbol of youth.As the poem by Samuel Ullman says, youth is not a period of life.As long as you live with a purpose, you can continue to live your youth. I hope that by touching this apple in a place with a panoramic view of Kobe Port, Mt. Rokko, the sea and the mountains, people will remember those days and regain their youth.''

To continue running through youth without ever maturing. Ando, ​​who considers himself a green apple, continues to amaze the world as a top runner in the architecture world.

Continue to learn about the challenges of architect Tadao Ando (Part 2)

(Titles omitted)

Tadao Ando
Born in Osaka in 1941. He studied architecture on his own and founded the Tadao Ando Architectural Institute in 1969. His representative works include ``Church of Light,'' ``Pulitzer Museum,'' and ``Chichu Art Museum.'' 1979 Architectural Institute of Japan Award for "Sumiyoshi Nagaya", 1993 Japan Art Academy Award, 1995 Pritzker Prize, 2003 Person of Cultural Merit, 2005 International Union of Architects (UIA) Gold Medal, 2010 John F. Kennedy He has received numerous awards, including the Center Arts Gold Award, the Goto Shinpei Award, the Order of Culture, the 2013 French Order of Arts and Letters (Commandeur), the 2015 Grande Ufficiale of the Italian Star, and the 2016 Isamu Noguchi Award. Held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1991 and at the Center Pompidou in Paris in 1993. He has been a visiting professor at Yale, Columbia, and Harvard Universities. He has been a professor at the University of Tokyo since 1997 and is currently professor emeritus.
Tadao Ando Architectural Institute　http://www.tadao-ando.com/