Tadao Ando, Azuma House, Japan, Sumiyoshi, 1976

About the Architect :

Tadao Ando (born in 1941), Japanese self-taught architect. Laureate of the Pritzker Price.

About the House :

Azuma House is one of the earliest works of  Tadao Ando. The Row House in Sumiyoshi is better known on the name Azuma House. This building is located in Sumiyoshi (Osaka, Japan). The house is split into a spaces devoted to daily life (composed of an austere geometry) by the insertion of an abstract space for the games of wind and light. His goal was to introduce a question on the inertia that has invaded human dwellings. This building replaces one of the traditional houses in the area built in wood. While this area is not the most chaotic of the city, there is a clear contrast between this “concrete box” and its surrounding buildings. Built between medians, this apartment is perched on a lot of 57.3 m². The total square fottage of 64.7 m² is divided into three equal sections: two floors and a patio.This box of concrete occupies the entire site. The building, centripetal as far as its organization, has a tripartite structure centered around an uncovered patio.

Thanks to the Azuma House, Ando received an award from the Japan Association of Architecture in 1976.

reference

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row_House_in_Sumiyoshi

images

Reviewed by Esteve P.