WATER TEMPLE
-TADAO ANDO
INTRODUCTION
❑ THE WATER TEMPLE IS THE RESIDENCE OF NINNAJI SHINGON, THE
OLDEST CULTURE OF TANTRIC BUDDHISM IN JAPAN, FOUNDED IN
815.
❑ FEW PROJECTS OF TADAO ANDO ARE BETTER THAN THIS WORK; THE
ARCHITECT’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE CULTURE OF THEIR COUNTRY.
❑ MORE THAN JUST A BUILDING, IT IS A SENSORY EXPERIENCE THAT
REPRESENTS A RADICAL CHANGE IN THE MILLENARY TRADITION OF
BUILDING TEMPLES IN JAPAN.
LOCATION
❑THE WATER TEMPLE IS LOCATED IN THE
FORMER CITY OF HOMPUKUJI, LOCATED IN
THE NORTHERN PART OF THE ISLAND OF
AWAJI, AND IS CHARACTERIZED BY A
LANDSCAPE DOMINATED BY HILLS AND
PARTIALLY BUILT THAT DOES NOT HAVE AN
IDENTITY OF ITS OWN.
❑HOMPUKUJI HAS BECOME PART OF THE
CITY OF AWAJI, JAPAN.
CONCEPT
❑BY THE WAY, MATERIALS AND SEQUENCE OF SPACES, THE TEMPLE
WATER IS FAR FROM THE WOODEN STRUCTURES OF THE CLASSIC
BUDDHIST TEMPLES BUT IT SEEMS TO THEM BY THEIR MYSTICAL
QUALITY OF SPACE.
❑AMONG THE BAMBOO FORESTS, MOUNTAINS, FIELDS OF RICE AND IS,
THE HARDENING APPEARS AS A LAKE OF LOTUS FLOWERS, ENCLOSED
IN A THIN OVAL OF CONCRETE STRUCTURE PROTECTED BY CEMENT
BARRIERS SMOOTH.
CONCEPT
❑THE SAME LOTUS, A SYMBOL OF HEAVEN, REPRESENTS THE
EMERGENCE OF AMIDA BUDDHA, WHICH ACCORDING TO POPULAR
BELIEF CARRIES A MESSAGE OF HEAVENLY PARADISE.
❑RESPECTING THE PARTICULAR DOGMATIC AND THEIR SYMBOLS
FOUNDING ANDO CREATES A NEW WORK AND SYNCRETIC:
THE CONTRIBUTION GIVEN BY THE WEST IS MATERIAL AND
TECHNIQUE; THE EASTERN ENTRANCE TO THE OIL-FOR-SEEMS
NATURAL FACTORS. THE WIND, LIGHT AND WATER ARE NOT MERELY
“MENTIONED” IN THIS CONSTRUCTION, BUT CONSTITUTE A TRUE
“EXPERIENCE” IN THE BODY OF THE VISITOR.
❑IN ITS FORMS ARE STRONG
SYMBOLISM, SOME OF THEM ARE
HIDDEN BUT ALSO SHOWS CLEARLY,
AND BELONG TO THE BUDDHIST
TEACHINGS AND THE OLDEST JAPANESE
PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITION.
SPACES
❑ THE SENSORY EXPERIENCE, DESIGNED BY ANDO, BEGINS WHEN ONE
APPROACHES THE TEMPERING, AMONG THE BUSHES AND TREES AND
THE POLISHED SURFACE OF CEMENT BARRIERS THAT PROTECT THE
LAKE AND A LONG ROW OF WHITE GRAVEL, WHICH INITIATED THE
PROCESSION PURIFICATION BEFORE ENTERING THE HOLY PLACE
PLAN
SITE PLAN UNGERGROUND PLAN
SITE ELEVATION
EVEVATION AND
SECTION
SPACES
❑ THE ARRIVAL AT THE TEMPER IS A
COMPLEX STRUCTURE AS IT IS
NECESSARY TO PASS THROUGH
OPENINGS ALONG WALLS TO REACH
THE HEART OF THE BUILDING
❑ IT IS A LONG WALL OF CONCRETE 3
METERS TALL WITH A SINGLE VAIN.
ELEVEN CROSSOVER OFFERS
ANOTHER WALL, THIS TIME CURVES,
BORDERED BY A WHITE GRAVEL ROAD
❑ BEHIND IT IS DISCOVERED AN OVAL
POND WITH LOTUS, THAT IS
SURPRISINGLY THE ROOF OF THE
TEMPERING, WHICH IS PARTLY LOCATED
UNDERGROUND THEREBY TO ENTER
THE SHRINE HAS TO BE DOWN A
STAIRWAY THAT CUTS IN TWO POND.
❑ AFTER THE CLOSE DOWN STAIRS, BETWEEN THE CEMENT WALLS WE
CAN SEE THE TYPICAL OF THE WORK OF ANDO, ONE ARRIVES AT
LAST HOLY SPACE THROUGH A CONCRETE NETWORK ALONG
WOODEN LATTICE DESIGNED TO 17.4 SQUARE METERS OF HAND IN
A CIRCLE OF 18 METERS IN DIAMETER, WHICH HOUSES A STATUE OF
BUDDHA., BEHIND WHICH LIES THE ONLY NATURAL LIGHT..
Ando has moved underground, the
oval shape of the pool to translate it
into the holy space, inside it has
organized various spaces
MATERIALS
❑USE CONCRETE, WHICH FUNCTIONS AS A MELODY
OF AESTHETICS, DEMONSTRATING THE
EXTRAORDINARY POWER OF CULTURAL SYNTHESIS
OF ANDO AS THE CONSTRUCTIVE MATERIAL OF
THE TEMPLES ARE BUDDHIST, MOST OF THE WOOD.
❑THE PLASTIC AND SPATIAL RESULTS ACHIEVED HERE MAKE THE
HOMPUKI TEMPLE ONE OF THE HIGH POINTS OF ANDO'S CAREER,
EXPRESSING A UNIVERSE OF SYMBOLISM AND COLOUR
FORMERLY UNKNOWN TO HIM WHICH HAS ENRICHED HIS WAY
OF EXPRESSING THE CHARACTER OF JAPANESE SPACE WALKING
BETWEEN THE LOTUS FLOWERS, ONE FEELS THAT THIS IS A PLACE
WHICH TRANSCENDS DAY-TO-DAY LIFE, A PLACE WHERE THE
COMBINATION OF ARCHITECTURE WITH NATURE AND THE ECO
OF THE PEACEFUL MIRROR OF WATER NATURALLY LEAD TO
MEDITATION AND SIMPLICITY.
➢ SITE PLAN
PLAN
ELEVATIONS
SECTIONS
UNDERGROUND PLAN
TOMISHIMA HOUSE, OSAKA ROW HOUSE
KOSHINO HOUSE TIMES 1 & 2
ROKKO HOUSING
JAPANESE PAVILION
FOR EXPO 92
• MEDITATION SPACE UNESCO
CHURCH OF LIGHT
