Internationally renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando, born 1941, is hailed a leading authority in his profession and is the only architect to have won the discipline's four most prestigious prizes: the Pritzker, Carlsberg, Praemium Imperiale and Kyoto Prize. Ando's exhibition 'Chinmoku', meaning silence, includes three maquettes, sketches and photos relating to some of his most prolific projects: Ground Zero Project, New York, 2001-02, Church on the Water, Hokkaido, 1985-88 and Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima, 2000-04; plus a scale concrete model of Church of the Light, Osaka, 1987-89.
The exhibition is a first for both Ando, who had never shown these materials in a commercial exhibition, and for Hamiltons, marking a momentary break from photography in order to coincide with the unveiling of Ando's installation outside The Connaught Hotel on Carlos Place.
"A mutual friend of Ando and myself, Kazuhito Yoshii - a gallerist in New York City, brought Ando to Hamiltons whilst visiting London. He loved the gallery and an idea was conceived to have a show that would coincide with the unveiling at The Connaught. A portion of the exhibition proceeds will be donated, by Ando and Hamiltons, to benefit charitable organisations caring for orphaned children from the recent Tsunami.", Tim Jefferies, 2011.
Combining influences from Japanese tradition with the best of Modernism, Ando has developed a unique building aesthetic that makes use of concrete, wood, water, light, space and nature in a way that has never existed elsewhere in architecture. Ando has designed award winning private homes, churches, museums apartment complexes and cultural spaces throughout Japan, France, Italy, Spain and the USA.
"Creating architecture is to express representational aspects of the real world, such as nature, history, tradition and society, in a spatial structure, which is an abstract concept, composed by clear, transparent logic.", Tadao Ando.