
No. 16
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Ando, Tadao 安藤 忠雄
−Unconventional Architect−
−Uploaded on May 16, 2003
| 英文 | 重要語句 | |
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■ Tadao Ando is probably the most unlikely architect you'll come across. Now beginning his golden years, at age 62, and retired from his teaching position at Tokyo University, he is still amazing the architectural world. In 2002 he was awarded the AIA Gold Medal―the American Institute of Architects' highest honor―for his overall body of work. Ando does not rest on his laurels as by the end of 2002 his work on a new gallery for the 110-year-old Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (located in Texas close to Dallas) was completed to rave reviews. |
unconventional 型にはまらない architect 建築家 come across …を思い浮かべる award …を授与する body of work 一連の作品 rest on one’s laurels 名声の上にあぐらをかいている rave review べたぼめの批評 |
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■■ It's no wonder Ando is still receiving accolades. This former boxer and truck driver has always done things a little differently. He never even went to architectural school, if you can believe it? He started off traveling the world rather than attending to his studies and by 1970 was so well-versed in architecture and design that he started up his own architectural firm, "creatively" called, Tadao Ando Architect & Associates. Even today he still finds inspiration in those sketches he made of houses, churches, village huts, office towers and what have you on his youthful travels. |
accolade 褒賞 well-versed in ... …に精通している inspiration 創造的刺激 hut 小屋 |
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■■■ His first big success (for which he won an award in 1979 from the Architectural Institute of Japan) is generally considered his Azuma House―row housing in the Sumiyoshi neighborhood of Osaka. This project was notable for Ando's now trademark use of concrete and glass. Unlike much of Japan's somewhat dull and ugly style of concrete and glass architecture, he was able to give these simple materials almost a life of their own. Being Japanese he has been referred to by the Western world, of course, as the "Zen master" of architecture but all Ando really does is give his buildings a strong sense of place. Within that context he also allows for the interiors of his buildings to be most serene places to live, work and play. Basically, Ando adapts his buildings' "outer skin" (mainly massive concrete walls) to the urban chaos around them. The "inner skin" (combinations of materials where glass plays the most important role) of the same buildings offer peace and tranquility from that chaotic outside world. |
row housing 長屋 notable for ... …で有名な dull 無味乾燥な ugly (外見上)醜い Zen master 禅の精神を極めた人 sense of place その土地らしさが感じられること context 状況 allow for ... …を考慮する serene 静かな massive 重厚な tranquility 静けさ chaotic 無秩序の;混沌とした |
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■■■■ This Osakan genius, though, is not an architect who works exclusively with concrete and glass. In another of his earlier "careers" he apprenticed as a carpenter. Applying those skills, he created the magnificent Japanese Pavilion at the Seville, Spain, Expo '92. This pavilion reflected the beauty of traditional Japanese wood craftsmanship. |
Osakan 大阪出身の exclusively もっぱら apprentice 弟子になる magnificent 壮大な Seville セビリア craftsmanship (職人の)技能 |
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■■■■■ It really was the Rokko Housing project in Osaka that sealed Ando's greatness. Built into the side of a hill with a 180-degree view of Osaka Bay, much of Rokko Housing looks the same from the outside but inside, each unit has a unique interior design. Add to that a swimming pool and a rooftop plaza, both of which for Japan are unusual in most housing complexes, and the place is simply a gem. The Rokko Housing project garnered him yet another prize―Japan's Cultural Design Prize (which he received in 1983 after completion of phase one of the entire project). |
seal …を確定する plaza 広場 housing complex 集合住宅 gem 珠玉 garner X Y XにYをもたらす |
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■■■■■■ As Ando has gotten older, he has also gotten more prolific. The '90s saw him turn out some of his best work. The year 1995 probably marked the high point of that decade as he became the third Japanese architect (Kenzo Tange in 1987 and Fumihiko Maki in 1993 are the others) to win the famed Pritzker Architecture Prize (considered the most prestigious architectural award of all). |
prolific 多作の turn out ... …を作り出す prestigious 高名な |
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■■■■■■■ Now as the 21st century has begun, and with the critical and popular success of his work on the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth done, one can only look forward to what Ando has in store in the upcoming years as he continues to amaze the architectural world. |
look forward to ... …を楽しみに待つ have in store 用意している amaze …をびっくりさせる |
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−written by Brian Maitland
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