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Developing and Changing


Responses to Light in Tadao
Andos Three Religion Works.
Essay for ARC 6989
Student: Li Guangzong
Student NO.: 100202968
2011/5/3

[
]
Developing and Changing Responses to
Light in Tadao Andos Three Religion
Works.

Content

1. Introduction.

1.1 Why it is interesting to look into the responses to light in Andos works.
1.2 Chapel on the Mt. Rokko
1.3 Church on the water
1.4 Church of the light

2. Analysis and comparison of Andos responses to light among these three projects

2.1 Logic, Skill and the meaning beneath the light

3. Conclusion.
1. Introduction

Looking into Tadao Andos works, light, concrete and the Japanese traditional spirit which is
transformed by his space design are the three points which are mentioned frequently. Concrete
walls shape his architectures form and create space, while light filters into the space and is
projected on the wall to transform the immaterial Japanese spirit into visible. Since the 1970s,
Ando has been famous of his response to light in his design from Row house and gradually
developing his particular way to design the light inside space. I am very interested in the various
design of nature light in architecture, so I choose to observe and compare Andos 3 religious
works to try to find out and learn how Ando made responses to light in these designs and how
these responses developed and changed.

Based on Philip Drews book, all 3 works I chose were designed between 1985 and 1989, which
are the Chapel on Mount Rokko in 1985-1986, the Church on the Water in 1988 and the Church of
the Light in 1989. 1 The reasons why I choose these works are that firstly the sizes of the projects
are quite similar and their areas are not too big like museums or offices. Secondly, these projects
were designed by Ando in continual 5 years, so the connection and continuity among them
should be easier and better for me to observe than other projects. Besides, different from
houses or commerce buildings, religious buildings always have high requests for nature light
design, which may provide me a good angel to discover Andos development of his skills.
Background of three projects

Chapel on the Mt.Rokko

To start with this small


chapel on the top of Mount
Rokko in Osaka, Ando said
that: Its my wish that this
quiet space, composed of
materials having a definite
substantiality, will come to
life through light and have
an impact on people.2 It is
not too hard to find that
light is so important for
creating scared space here Figure 1. Chapel on the Mt. Rokko

as Ando intended. Although


its area is quite small, there are three parts of this project, the colonnade, the chapel and the
bell tower. Different from the open colonnade, the chapel is a 6.5m wide x 13m long x 6.5m
high3 concrete box. The only visible window in the chapel is the square window with cross steel

1
Philip Drew, Church on the Water Church of the Light, (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996), p.7.
2
Tadao Ando, Chapel on Mt. Rokko, The Japanese Architecture, vol.354 (1986), p.11
3
Drew, Church on the Water Church of the light, p.10
frame on the north wall, through which visitors can see a slope of grass and a freestanding
concrete wall. But, there are two invisible narrow windows on the eastern and western end of
roof, which allow the sunlight to filter into the chapel. The skylight on the east end of chapel
baths on the surface of concrete wall, in front of which is the priests lectern, immensely
increasing holy feeling of this space. While the calm view from the north walls window connects
people inside with the nature outside and reminds adherent of the secular world at the same
time.

Church on the Water

Figure 2: Church on the Water

As it is mentioned in Jin Beaks book: In the Church on the Water, whose primary function is
a venue for wedding ceremonies.4, Church on the Water is a chapel which specially provides
service for marriage. The site of it is a large open area in front of a famous hotel and surrounded
by wonderful nature view. It is composed of two square boxes which overlap at one corner, a
large area plain pond and an L shape freestanding concrete wall in the southwest of church. In
fact, one of the two square boxes is the concrete church, one of whose walls is open toward the
pond and form the most famous part of this church, which is Letting the cross sit in the middle
of nature and be perceived from the inside through an open front wall5. The other is a glass
cube. Different from the concrete church, Ando placed four crosses on the top floor of this glass
cube where visitors can feel the totally open to nature and bath in the sunshine. In this project,
Ando used a simple way to make the response to light- the comparison between darkness and
brightness; and the comparison between direction and directionless of light, which I would like
to talk more lately.

4
Drew, Church on the Water Church of the light, p.15
5
Jin Beak, Nothingness: Tadao Andos Christian Scared Space, (Great Britain: Routledge,2009), p.103
Church of the Light

This small concrete community church


in Osaka is quite famous for its cross of
light on the wall and brought Ando many
awards. Here Ando followed his idiomatic
way to create the space by simple
concrete box and freestanding walls. This
building is composed of a 5.9m wide x
17.7m long x 5.9m high 6 concrete
church and a L shape wall which
penetrates the church and inclines 15to
Figure 3: Church of the Light
churchs axis. Different from last two
churches I just introduced, light plays the absolutely dominating role in this church, which can be
found easily from the name of it. Entering into the church from eastern end, visitors cant see
anything, because of the darkness inside the church forms such an expressive comparison from
the brightness outside, but light filtering from the cross shape window on the wall in western
end. In this church, light is transformed directly into the cross and becomes the figurative symbol
of this small scared space. Although there are still small areas window around the entrance, their
influence are quite weak, compared to the light of cross, to move visitors eyes from the cross.
Ando developed his way of response to light extremely in this project and turned this small
church to a world famous classical architecture.

2. Analysis and comparison of Andos responses to light among these three projects

It is interesting to put these three projects together.


They all share many Andos design talent like that they are
all organized by means of simple geometric relationship7,
they are all concrete boxes with grey steel and clear glasses
and they all have unforgettable design of nature light
inside. While the differences and changes are apparent
among them as well. In my opinion, there are three main
distinctions among these three Andos design of light: the
logic, the skill and the meaning beneath the light.

Logic, Skill and the meaning beneath the light


From my view of point, three projects locating in three
different kinds of site is the first reason lead to Andos
different design logic among these projects. Site of Chapel
Figure 4: Chapel on the Mt. Rokko on the Mt. Rokko has a good open view and nature

6
Drew, Church on the Water Church of the light, p.10
7
Drew, Church on the Water Church of the light, p.10
environment, from where the sea of Osaka can be seen. This good advantage should inspire
Andos desire for an open colonnade and a large window for the chapel, so there is the window
on the north wall. Because the scared space cant be exposed directly under the light and too
bright, so there is only one window on the standing walls. Although the north window can
provide a view of outside, it cant be used to shape the holy feeling of chapel. Andos experience
of visiting European churches must provide him some clues about how to sculpture a scared
place by the top light from the roof. He chose
to open a small window on the roof then the
sunshine can bath the rough surface of
concrete wall and reflect into the space which
emphasize the importance of lectern and
shape the mood of this chapel. I have to say
that this is a very clever and simple way for
light design in religious building.

Here Ando used the skill of comparison


Figure 5: Chapel on the Mt. Rokko
between the areas of light. The reflective light
from the large window and the directly light from the roof lead to the different feeling about the
brightness of the space which shape the mood of the chapel and convey holy feeling by
emphasizing the lectern in brightest light from the roof.

But, I still find some contradictory logic in the


design of this chapel. The window on the north
wall can provide a connection between visitors
and nature, but it is quite weak because outside
the window it is just a grassy slope and the
concrete wall cut out the connection between
the chapel to further view of site. Besides, the
cross frame of the window may distract visitors
attention from the main cross behind the lectern,
Figure 6: Chapel on the Mt. Rokko
and the light from this big window may weaken
the importance of the light from the roof. But these two problems both have been solved in the
Church on the Water.

In the Church on the Water, design follows a very clear logic which is to lead visitors sight to
move from inside of the church to the cross standing on the pond. Function of this churchs
window, which meets the requirement of basic light for space and creates the scared mood for
the church at the same time, is simpler than the windows in the Chapel on the Mt. Rokko.
Besides, in my opinion, the function of this church on the water is for marriage ceremony, which
may be the other important factor leading to Andos response to the light. The rite of marriage
requests romantic mood and is different from request of darkness for the rite of meditation and
prayer, so Ando can design the whole glass wall in this church. The cross is a little bit far, so its
shadow cant reach the church or influence light inside the church, which keep the cross so pure
that it looks like eternal without change of light and shadow. Meanwhile, in the other part of this
church, the glass cube, Ando places
four crosses close in front of four
glass windows. Visitors can
experience the infinite of light and
holy spirit through the crosses into
the site beyond. This appropriately
solves the problem of limitation of
sight in the Chapel on the Mt.
Rokko.

Figure 7: Church on the Water


Once again, Ando made a
comparison between darkness and brightness like in the Chapel on Mt. Rokko. The different
thing is that there are two spaces in this comparison, the dark chapel and the bright glass cube,
instead of one space as the Chapel on the Mt. Rokko. The light may reflect into the chapel by the
water but it is still too dark compared to the totally transparent glass cube. The function of light
in the chapel is to lead visitors view into the cross and the nature, which subtly connects the
nature with God and visitors and creates the Romantic mood for marriage ceremony. While the
light of glass cube is to help visitors experience of infinite, which is churchs basic function as well.
The four freestanding crosses is a comparison to the cross standing on the water. If the cross on
the water represent for the God in the nature, I would like to say that the four crosses are
reminding visitors that God is everywhere in every direction. Ando separated the two basic part
of church by light in two cubes, one for the marriage of mundane world, the other for the saint
world of God.

However, in the
Church of Light, I think
Ando has improved his
logic and skill of
designing light into a
higher place.

For the Church of Light,


I think the first reason for
Ando to design it as a
heavy concrete box is Figure 8: Church on the Water
that it functions Christian church on the outskirts of Osaka that serves the local community8. It
locates inside a community and there is not too much open space for it, as we know that
Japanese density is so high in the city. Andos logic about nature seems that it cant suit this sites
situation, so he chose to make the light become the most vital component in this church by
reducing any other windows which may weaken the power of the light cross. To make a cross
shape on the wall is the extreme response Ando made to light among these three small religious
works.

8
Drew, Church on the Water Church of the light, p.15
Like Jin Beak said in his book:
Ando took a different approach
(from the Church on the Water.)
Instead of opening up the front
wall entirely, he rendered it
solid and then pierced it to
carve a cross setting deftly
between the inside and the
outside. 9 There is only one
expressive comparison here
which is between the large
areas of darkness and the small
Figure 9: Church of the Light and Church on the Water.
areas of brightness. The light
filtering into the dark space through the concrete wall not just forms a symbol of cross but define
the spaces internal spirit of holy spirit. The meaning beneath the light of it is the most intuitional
among these three projects. Once visitors enter it, they can feel the existence of scared space
strongly and wonder what is beyond the light cross which may guide them to pursue the further
religious questions.

The cross of light, the cross-shaped opening at one end becomes the door to the world
above, through which the gods can descend to earth
and man can symbolically ascend to heaven.10

The Church of light, in my opinion, is the most


mature works among these three works in all design
logic, skill and the meaning beneath the light. But it is
also based on the development of Andos experience
from the last two works. Figure 10: Church of the Light

3. Conclusion

To sum up, I find that there is the continuity in the response of light among these three
projects. Although the design logic, skill and further meaning beyond the design is changing and
developing among them based on different special design limitations, light is always the
unchangeable point which Ando follows and utilizes among these works. I think this is the main
why I always admire his works and prefer to learn the skill of designing light from him. To the end
of this essay, I would like to use Henry Plummers words to demonstrate what I think of light.

The study of light, therefore, is something more than a mere investigation of


illuminationAlways the same and always different, light reveals what is.11

9
Beak, Nothingness: Tadao Andos Christian Scared Space, p.103-p.107
10
Drew, Church on the Water Church of the light, p.11
11
Henry Plummer, Poetics of Light, Architecture and Urbanism, 12 (1987), 5.
Bibliography
Ando, Tadao, Chapel on Mt. Rokko, The Japanese Architecture, vol.354 (1986)

Beak, Jin, Nothingness: Tadao Andos Christian Scared Space, (Great Britain: Routledge,2009)

Drew, Philip, Church on the Water Church of the Light, (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996)

Mayne, Thom, Tadao Ando, Graphis, Vol.47 (1991)

Pare, Richard, Tadao Ando The Colours of Light, (China: Phaidon Press Limited, 2000)

Plummer, Henry, Poetics of Light, Architecture and Urbanism, 12 (1987), 5.

Suzuki, Daisetz T, Zen And Japanese Culture, (USA: Routledge And Kegan Paul Ltd, 1959)

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