Material in Tadao Ando's projects

All Ando’s works are characterized by this confrontation between nature and architecture. Nature is neither additional to his buildings, nor decorative-planning is rarely found in or around his buildings-but is for him a principal component: ‘I believe that “architectural materials” are not limited to wood or concrete that have tangible form, but go beyond to include light and wind – which appeal to our senses’. Nature cuts deeply into both his architecture and into the lives of the inhabitations, forging a dialogue with both. His repeated use, in many works, of apertures between his walls and ceilings is not only for the architectural purpose of identifying the independence of the two plans and the beautification of the interior walls with falling light pattern. Their essential purpose is to render the perfectly proportioned spaces fluid through the admission of nature. By measuring time and nature through the movement of shadows, or the sound of rain on the rooflights above, these apertures unite the life of the space itself with the lives of its human occupations.