Comments on: Tadao Ando Comes to the Clark

By: Richard Lacayo

Richard Lacayo — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:10:54 +0000

I'm well aware of the Pulitzer Foundation and even discussed it with Ando at his offices in Osaka a few years ago. My article in Time doesn't say that the Stone HIll center is his second building in the U.S. It says he hadn't done a building in this country since completing the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum. The Pulitzer opened in 2001, the Fort Worth Museum the following year. For the record, Ando also designed a private residence in Chicago in the 1990s. I simply didn't have room in a one page piece to mention everything he's done but I can see how the way that sentence is worded left an ambiguity.

By: DanielArchitect

DanielArchitect — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:34:51 +0000

The Stone hill art center is not the second Ando building in the US...it's the 3rd...I suppose Richard Lacayo has never been to St. Louis to see the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts Building- it's real Ando. http://www.pulitzerarts.org/architecture-commissioned-art/

By: Rafael Montilla

Rafael Montilla — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:47:54 +0000

Great architecture is frozen music, a melody that stretches long into the sky returning each day for an encore. Architecture can fasten itself to the heart of the beholder. If great architecture is music, Tadao Ando is the master conductor.

By: M_s

M_s — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:49:39 +0000

Thanks for the article and pics.

I have been a fan of Ando and known many of his work. I am so disappointed to find out that this building is so NOT Ando. The concrete finish looks rough and dirty (bad contractor?), railing on the stair and roof look too complicated (poor interpretation of the ADA code?). In addition, the interior finishes do not remind me a thing of Ando's work (except the "cross" mullions on the glass).

If I had looked at the pics at Time only (not at this blog), I would have assumed this was just one of those precast buildings in any business parks across the country.

I am very curious to know who is the executive architect in the US that finished the contruction documents for Ando?

By: Toby

Toby — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:26:42 +0000

Thank you for your observations and your photos of the Clark.

I wonder if you would take a moment to replace the term "landscape designers" with "landscape architects" in your post. Landscape design is an important and honorable trade, but it isn't the same as landscape architecture, which is a licensed profession in most states, including Massachusetts. Check out Robert Campbell's article on the Clark in the Boston Globe, where he gets it right: Reed Hilderbrand Associates are landscape architects.

Again, thanks for bringing this important building and landscape to our attention.