This article originally appeared on Domus 1006, October 2016. An unusual request – a more harmonious inclusion within its natural surroundings of a monumental Buddha statue in a cemetery near Sapporo – prompted the Japanese master and his assistants to produce a project on landscape scale that adopts a few refined architectural features to celebrate the solemnity and spirituality of the subject and its location.
When Tadao Ando embraced the Buddha with a hill
In 2016 Domus published an intervention by future guest editor Ando, merging construction and landscape to create a spiritual experience through the tools of space and atmosphere.
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
Domus 1006, October 2016
Tadao Ando – © Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
Domus 1006, October 2016
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
Domus 1006, October 2016
Domus 1006, October 2016
Domus 1006, October 2016
Domus 1006, October 2016
Domus 1006, October 2016
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
Domus 1006, October 2016
Domus 1006, October 2016
Domus 1006, October 2016
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
Domus 1006, October 2016
Domus 1006, October 2016
Domus 1006, October 2016
Domus 1006, October 2016
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
Domus 1006, October 2016
View Article details
- Tadao Ando
- 12 May 2022
- Takino cemetery , Sapporo, Japan
- Tadao Ando Architect & Associates – Tadao Ando (principal); Masataka Yano, Horonobu Wakayama (project architects)
- 1105 sqm
- 2015
The head-out Buddha
The aim of this project was to build a prayer hall that would enhance the attractiveness of a stone Buddha sculpted 15 years ago. The site is a gently sloping hill on 180 hectares of lush land belonging to a cemetery. The statue is 13.5 metres tall and weighs 1,500 tons. It is made of fine, highly selected solid stone.
Until now, the Buddha statue has stood alone in the field, giving an unrestful impression.
The client wanted to give visitors a more serene appreciation of the Buddha. Our idea was to cover the Buddha below the head with a hill of lavender plants.
We called the idea the “head-out Buddha”. Embedded under the hill are a 40-metre approach tunnel and a rotunda embracing the statue. The design intention was to create a vivid spatial sequence, beginning with the long approach through the tunnel in order to heighten anticipation of the statue, which is invisible from the outside. When the hall is reached, visitors look up at the Buddha, whose head is encircled by a halo of sky at the end of the tunnel. The Hill of the Buddha is planted with 150,000 lavenders that turn fresh green in spring, pale purple in summer and silky white with snow in winter. The project might be considered on the scale of landscape rather than architecture. It required a special frame of mind to rearrange the environment, and was a challenging and precious experience for us. Tadao Ando
Like the apex of an ancient mound, the divinity’s head rises from a hillside covered with 150,000 lavender bushes – chosen as the local flower that represents the beauty of this region. Because of the large number required, a special plot of land was purchased on which to grow the plants before moving them to the project site.
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
A study sketch showing the 13.5 m tall statue incorporated into the artificial hill. The site is in the monumental Makomanai Takino cemetery near Sapporo.
Tadao Ando – © Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
Axial view of the complex highlighting its precise compositional design and architectural features.
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
Aerial view of the complex, comprising the ritual approach to the hall of the Buddha.
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
Visitors slowly approaching the Buddha encounter a sheet of water surrounded by unfaced concrete walls, a sort of first sacred enclosure marking the passage from the earthly world to the eternal one. At this point, there are still views of the surrounding landscape.
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
Two round pavilions set at the two short edges of the rectangular basin are a reminder and reinterpretations of two bell towers that used to stand on the site but were removed to make way for the new project.
Foto Shigeo Ogawa
View of the 40 m tunnel featuring a ribbed concrete structure forming arches one sixth of the circumference in size.
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
Photo Shigeo Ogawa
Steps at the end of the dark corridor lead to the Buddha Rotunda, an open-air space. The statue rests on a raised dais and is exposed to the atmospheric agents, a condition that intensifies the visitor’s spiritual encounter. For the project, Tadao Ando drew inspiration from the Ajanta rock caves (India) and the Dunhuang caves (China). Photo Shigeo Ogawa
A blanket of snow over the entire complex highlights the archetypal forms of the design.
Photo Shigeo Ogawa