Emotional Architecture - A Study of Tadao Ando ’ s Genius Loci Design Philosophy and Design Syntax

Tadao Ando’s design presents the concept of the spirit of place and establishes the nature and soul of architecture. The creation of a situation is to enlighten people and enable them to understand the potential meaning, revealing a state of awareness. Tadao Ando enables people to relate to his emotional design situation that reflects the Zen state of mind inherent in traditional Japanese culture, which is characterized as being quiet, distant, clear, and poetic. In this study, literature reviews and field investigations have been used to observe and analyze the detail composition syntax created in Tadao Ando’s spatial situation for summarizing the composing mode and design method of its detail aesthetics. The analysis on the composing method of Tadao Ando’s design syntax was carried out according to Norberg Schulz's "Genius Loci" theory and Donald A. Norman’s "emotional design" theory. The research results reveal that Tadao Ando applied the architectural features of building materials and geometric design language to incorporate several natural elements such as light, wind, water, and so on into building designs, engendering poetic detail aesthetic characteristics comprising artistic situations involving water and interweaving of lights and shadows in combination with smooth glass, tranquil and beautiful iron members, and fine concrete. Keywords—Tadao Ando; Genius Loci; Zen Aesthetics; Spatial Situation; Emotional Experience.