Tadao Ando

 The influence that the Japanese architect Tadao Ando (Osaka, 1941) has had on several generations of architects has been acknowledged through the award that the International Union of Architects gives every three years. Among the fundamental virtues of an oeuvre inspired as much by Japanese tradition as by Le Corbusier, the jury upheld Ando’s masterful dominion over materials – especially reinforced concrete, out of which he obtains a silky texture – and the lyricism that his buildings exude, regardless of their size or program. Pritzker Prize winner in 1995 and AIA gold medallist in 2002, Ando divides his time between construction and education. He teaches and promotes scholarships. Besides the large number of projects carried out in his native country, he has been very successful internationally with works like the Benetton Research Center in Treviso, the Pulitzer Foundation headquarters in St. Louis, or the Art Museum of Fort Worth. Unfortunately, what was to be another major foreign feat, his competition-winning project for the Pinault Foundation in Paris, has been cancelled.