1st Edition

Nothingness: Tadao Ando's Christian Sacred Space

By Jin Baek Copyright 2009
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    Based around an interview with Tadao Ando, this book explores the influence of the Buddhist concept of nothingness on Ando’s Christian architecture, and sheds new light on the cultural significance of the buildings of one of the world’s leading contemporary architects.

    Specifically, this book situates Ando’s churches, particularly his world-renowned Church of the Light (1989), within the legacy of nothingness expounded by Kitaro Nishida (1870-1945), the father of the Kyoto Philosophical School.

    Linking Ando’s Christian architecture with a philosophy originating in Mahayana Buddhism illuminates the relationship between the two religious systems, as well as tying Ando’s architecture to the influence of Nishida on post-war Japanese art and culture.

    Introduction  Part 1: Emptiness and Christianity  1. Emptiness within Christianity  2. Return to Emptiness  Part 2: The School of Things (Mono-ha) and its Criticism of Modernity  3. The Emergence of the School of Things and Space Design  4. The School of Things and Anti-Semiotics  5. The School of Things and Nothingness  Part 3: Nothingness, Shintai and Christian Theology  6. Kitaro Nishida's Philosophy of Nothingness  7. Nothingness and Shintai  8. Nothingness and Christian Theology  Part 4: Emptiness and the Cross  8. Emptiness and the Demise of Symbols  9. The Cross between Romanticism and Barbarism  10. Emptiness Filled with Situational Appearance  11. Metaphysical Light and Phenomenological Light  12. Dark, Light and Gold  Part 5: Emptiness, the Cross and Shintai  13. Shintai and Corporeality of Architectural Elements  14. Body Attuned  15. The Penetrating Light and the Cross in Efficacy  16. Seeing in Emptiness  17. Beyond Solitude  18. The Sublime  Conclusion  Part 6: Interview with Tadao Ando

    Biography

    Jin Baek is Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include the cross-cultural issues between East Asia and the West in architecture and urbanism.