Tadao Ando Church of the Light

The Church of the Light in Ibaraki, Japan, designed by Tadao Ando, is a concrete box with a cross-shaped slit cut into the wall behind the altar. The entire experience of being inside the building depends on natural light entering through that opening. Not applied or decorated, the cross is a void in the structure. Light that comes through it changes throughout the day so the symbol is never the same twice. I want to visit it because the photographs I've seen show a space where the material and the idea are completely inseparable. The architecture does not illustrate a concept but actually is the concept. Smooth-finished concrete with visible tie holes in a grid is Ando's signature, and the floor is rough-cut wooden planks. Those 2 materials plus light are the only elements in the room. The building cost very little to construct because the parish had a small budget. Ando turned that constraint into a principle by stripping the design to the minimum number of decisions. I think the reason this building has been published and discussed more than almost any other small church built in the last 50 years is that it proves you don't need expensive materials or large scale to create a space that affects people physically. Made from the scaffolding planks used during construction, the pews connect the process of building to the experience of occupying. It is a 15-minute train ride from central Osaka and the congregation still holds services there every Sunday.