Tadao Ando: Sunken Courts

Tadao Ando's sunken constructions are respectfully compiled and presented here by eminent architectural historian Werner Blaser, in a book from a continuing series of specific projects by noted architects. Illustrated with photographs, plans, and sketches of Ando's underground creations, Sunken Courts reveals an architect firmly rooted in the tradition of northwest Chinese earth dwellings. Ando's in-ground buildings run contrary to the fairytale cliche of dank, cave-like sod homes. Refreshingly sunlit and airy, with open atriums and large, deep areas of glass, Ando's ceilings of skylights produce a meditative center that grounds these homes as much as their earthen walls. In contrast to Ando's recent work at Manhattan's Morimoto, they reveal something that's perhaps a bit closer to Ando's architecture that's at peace with itself and its surroundings