The documentary Tadao Ando: From Emptiness to Infinity pays homage to one of the world’s most renowned makers—the former boxer and self-taught architect, Tadao Ando. Winner of the 1995 Pritzker Architecture Prize (often referred to as the Nobel Prize for Architecture), Ando’s spare, highly geometric buildings balance the heft of concrete with the weightlessness of light, creating a spectacular connection between Japanese tradition and Western modernist design, and between nature and the built environment. Incorporating Zen concepts into his edgy, sharp, and powerful designs, Ando focuses on negative space and spatial circulation to encourage a holistic, almost spiritual experience within his structures.

Tadao Ando: From Emptiness to Infinity features many of Ando’s most celebrated buildings, including the Church of Light (1987–1989), Rokko Housing Complexes I, II, III (1978–1999), 4 x 4 House (2001–2003), Temple of Water (1989–1991), Shiba Ryotaro Memorial Museum (1998–2001), and Chichu Art Museum (2000–2004) in Japan; the Langen Foundation (1994–2004) in Germany; and Villa Benetton (1992–2000) and Punta della Dogana Museum (2006–2009) in Italy. Throughout this international journey, the film explores the architect’s creative motivations, and highlights the sense of ‘abundance’ that human life, nature, daylight, and the four seasons bring to his so-called ‘minimalist’ structures.

Mathias Frick is a Berlin-based director. He studied architecture at the Technical University of Berlin and film direction and production at the University of Bristol. He has since made documentaries about a range of cultural figures and topics, including the 798 Art District in Beijing; the contemporary jazz scene in Shanghai; the children’s picture-book author and illustrator Eric Carle; the Viennese avant-garde architects Coop Himmelb(l)au; and the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet.