The Visual Language of an Architect
Taschen’s newest release, Tadao Ando. Sketches, Drawings, and Architecture, brings an intimate view of the legendary Japanese architect’s creative process across more than five decades of work. Born in Osaka in 1941 and entirely self-taught, Ando founded his practice in 1969 after extended travels across the world. International recognition followed as he won the Pritzker Prize in 1995 and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1997.
Published from the art book house’s headquarters in Cologne, the volume gathers over 750 sketches, models, and technical drawings that reveal how Tadao Ando translates fleeting impressions into built spaces that are at once iconic and monumental. While the edition is currently up for preorder, it will be available for purchase in November 2025.
images courtesy Taschen
Tadao Ando’s Sketches and Drawings
Taschen’s book, Tadao Ando. Sketches, Drawings, and Architecture, tracks the progression of the architect’s design method through the tactile act of drawing. Quick pencil lines, dense shading, colored pencil drawings, and technical plans show how ideas first surface as instinctive gestures before becoming the structures that stand today. Readers can follow the development of key projects, especially the Row House in Sumiyoshi, the Rokko Housing complex, and the Chichu Art Museum, and can track how each evolved through layers of hand-rendered detail.
His own reflections accompany these drawings, illustrating his early travel experiences across Europe, Africa, and Asia, to the architectural decisions that came later. Memories of light in a stone monastery in France or the resonant geometry of an Indian stepwell emerge as formative influences. The book illustrates how these impressions, filtered through memory and craft, inform the quiet drama of concrete and light that defines his buildings.
Tadao Ando. Sketches, and Drawings trace over five decades of work
honoring the fragility of the hand-drawn line
For Tadao Ando, drawing remains a direct and irreplaceable means of shaping space. He views sketching as an act that captures the urgency of imagination, something no digital model can replicate. Taschen’s upcoming edition preserves that immediacy, presenting each drawing as both documentation and meditation, a celebration of the enduring value of the hand-drawn line.
In Ando’s own words: ‘Our imaginations may expand endlessly, shaping the invisible scenes in our minds — this is the never-ending story of architecture.’
The book includes a detailed appendix cataloging both built and unbuilt projects. The comprehensive list reinforces its role as an archival resource for architects and students studying the Japanese architect’s influential practice.
the book presents more than 750 sketches, models, and technical drawings
Ando reflects on early travels through Europe, Africa, and Asia as formative experiences
Taschen’s edition captures the evolution from quick pencil marks to precise technical plans
