The colours of light

Tadao Ando: the Colours of light is a landmark in architectural publishing. An exquisite work of art in its own right, it is the result of ten years' collaboration between the English photographer Richard Pare and the internationally renowned architect Tadao Ando. Japan's leading architect, Tadao Ando (b 1941) was recently awarded the 1995 Pritzker Architecture Prize for his 'consistent and significant contributions to the built environment'. This book includes twenty-seven of Ando's buildings, completed over the last decade, including such notable projects as the Kidosaki House, Tokyo, 1986, the Church on the Water, Hokkaido, 1988, the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum and Annexe, 1992 and 1995, and the recently completed buildings for Benetton in Treviso, Italy, 1995, and the Meditation Space for Unesco, Paris, 1995. Richard Pare's images break with previous conventions of architectural representation; they convey his interest in distilling the 'essence' of Tadao Ando's buildings rather than producing literal portraits. Pare concentrates on the subtle effects that natural light has on architecture; working without the aid of artificial effects he captures as directly as possible the colour and atmosphere of Ando's spaces.