Tadao Ando

Born in Osako, Japan in 1941, Tadao Ando became an architect without any formal training. Instead, he is self-educated by reading and traveling extensively through Africa, Europe, and the United States. In 1969, he founded his own Architecture firm and developed a radically new architectural style that has since withstood the test of time. 

His style is characterized by anti-seismic reinforced-concrete tradition, or the use of unfinished reinforced concrete structures. World-renowned, Ando has lectured at various American universities, including Yale, Columbia and Harvard. 

In 1984, Ando published his first lithograph printing of his architectural masterpieces with ink and colour pencil. In 1998, he made his representative work, "Tadao Ando Prints 1998" that consisted of 10 prints. 

Tadao Ando 's winner of many prestigous architectural awards, for example Carlsberg Prize (1992), Pritzker Prize (1995), Praemium Imperiale (1996), Gold Medal of Royal Institute of British Architects (1997)