3,000 to Hear Japanese Master of Architecture
Published: Friday, September 19, 2008
Largest Public lecture on Architecture ever in Ireland to take place this weekend
Up to 3,000 people are set to attend a lecture this weekend by one of the world’s greatest living architects, Tadao Ando – making this the largest attendance at a public lecture on architecture ever in Ireland.
The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) are co-hosting the event and it is being sponsored by Kerlin Gallery and the Tea Room at the Clarence Hotel. The event will take place at the Shelbourne Hall, RDS, Merrion Road, Dublin this Sunday, 23rd September at 3pm.
Japanese architect, Tadao Ando, is renowned as one of the most remarkable architects of our time, having won virtually all of the major international architecture awards. This is the first time he will speak in Ireland.
The 3,000 tickets for the event were booked out in one day, with attendees travelling from all over Ireland and from overseas to hear his lecture Creating Dreams, at Dublin’s RDS.
Tadao Ando began his career as a boxer and truck driver and began studying architecture by going to see landmark buildings across the world and reading books about works by such renowned architects as Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn. He then returned to Osaka at the age of 28 to open his own studio, Tadao Ando Architect and Associates.
In 1995, Ando won the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize medallion; an award considered to be the equivalent to the Nobel Prize in architecture.
Ando has become an architect and public speaker of unique public appeal. Earlier this year he gave a lecture at Taipei in Taiwan which was attended by 11,000 people – and 30,000 had applied for tickets.
Ando – “With the 'Age of Discovery', architects need to consider the 'Age of Responsibility’”
Tadao Ando is famed for his unique approach to architecture which explores the relationships between culture, nature and architecture. He believes that architecture can enhance people's lives, inspire them and create a place for an individual in society. Ando often refers to the 'Age of Responsibility' in relation to the 'Age of Discovery' in which he believes we need to be aware of the impact the built environment has on the natural environment.
Ando has said that people can be highly influenced by architecture and that it can reflect all culture and its differences. Ando works primarily in exposed cast-in-place concrete and is renowned for his creative use of natural light and for buildings that follow the natural forms of the landscape.
President of the RIAI, James Pike, said the Institute was delighted to co-organise the event which is “part of the RIAI’s programme in furthering increased public awareness of the importance and relevance of achieving the highest quality of architecture in the built environment.”
The IMMA’s Director, Enrique Juncosa, said: “IMMA is delighted to be associated with bringing such a distinguished and influential figure as Tadao Ando to Ireland. We are not at all surprised at the extraordinary level of interest in his lecture, given the ever-increasing interest in the built environment in this country.”
Ando has been a visiting Professor at Tokyo University, Yale, Harvard and Columbia. Following are some of the many prizes he has received:
- 1979 The annual prize from the Architectural Institute of Japan
- 1985 5th Alvar Aalto medal, Finnish Association of Architects
- 1989 Gold Medal, French Academy of Architecture
- 1992 Carlsberg Architectural Prize, Denmark
- 1995 Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France - Pritzker Architecture Prize
- 1997 Royal Gold Medal, Royal Institute of British Architects.
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