Renowned art book publisher Taschen will release an extensive new publication titled "Tadao Ando. Sketches, Drawings, and Architecture" in November 2025, offering an unprecedented look into the creative process of Japan's legendary self-taught architect. The comprehensive volume, currently available for preorder from Taschen's Cologne headquarters, presents more than 750 sketches, models, and technical drawings spanning over five decades of Ando's influential career.
Born in Osaka in 1941, Tadao Ando established his architectural practice in 1969 following extensive travels around the world. His groundbreaking work earned him international acclaim, culminating in prestigious awards including the Pritzker Prize in 1995 and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1997. The upcoming Taschen publication reveals how Ando transforms fleeting impressions and conceptual ideas into the iconic, monumental concrete structures that have defined his career.
The book meticulously tracks the evolution of Ando's design methodology through the tactile art of hand drawing. Readers can observe how quick pencil lines, dense shading, colored pencil sketches, and precise technical plans demonstrate the architect's process of translating instinctive gestures into the remarkable structures that stand today. The publication provides detailed documentation of key projects, including the Row House in Sumiyoshi, the Rokko Housing complex, and the Chichu Art Museum, showing how each design evolved through multiple layers of hand-rendered detail.
Ando's personal reflections accompany the drawings throughout the book, chronicling his formative travel experiences across Europe, Africa, and Asia that later influenced his architectural decisions. The architect describes how memories of light filtering through a stone monastery in France or the geometric patterns of an Indian stepwell became foundational influences on his work. These impressions, filtered through memory and refined through craftsmanship, inform the quiet drama of concrete and light that characterizes his buildings.
For Ando, drawing remains an irreplaceable method of shaping architectural space, as he views sketching as an act that captures the urgency of imagination in ways that digital modeling cannot replicate. "Our imaginations may expand endlessly, shaping the invisible scenes in our minds – this is the never-ending story of architecture," Ando explains in the publication. Taschen's upcoming edition preserves this immediacy by presenting each drawing as both historical documentation and artistic meditation, celebrating the enduring value of hand-drawn architectural work.
The comprehensive volume includes a detailed appendix that catalogs both Ando's built and unbuilt projects, reinforcing its role as an essential archival resource for architects and students studying the Japanese master's influential practice. The publication captures the complete evolution from initial quick pencil marks to precise technical construction plans, offering readers insight into how architectural concepts develop from initial inspiration to final realization.
