Tadao Ando

Working in Tokyo has convinced me that, contrary to what people think, it is actually one of the world's most beautiful cities.

In Japan, there is less a culture of preserving old buildings than in Europe.

In Italy, there are so many significant architectural structures in history such as the Pantheon in Rome, or the Duomo.

The level of detail and craft is something that's inscribed within the original design concept. And so when I begin to draw, I know what kind of detailing I want the building to have.

People tend not to use this word beauty because it's not intellectual - but there has to be an overlap between beauty and intellect.

But in Japan, there's nothing like that, since the temple is made of wood. The divine spirit inside the building is eternal, so the enclosure doesn't have to be.