Evolving materiality in the Japanese ethos

Abstract

This report seeks to look at the way Tadao Ando articulates traditional Japanese religious, cultural and aesthetic concerns through the use of concrete in his architecture. It shows how the mystical nature of traditional architecture has its very essence rooted in the religion and culture of the Japanese people, it continues in an observation of the introduction of concrete to Japan and the growing use of this material throughout this century and some of the political, economic, social and theoretical stimuli that have given rise to the architectural environment in which Ando currently works.