Tokyo Jewel Box
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Combining his distinctive minimalist style with the work of designers and artists, architect Tadao Ando created an unusual guesthouse and gallery space in Tokyo for Takeo Obayashi.
Walls of platinum-glazed tiles by Olafur Eliasson enclose the courtyard.
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"I always consider the elements of privacy and the surrounding urban environment, the house's public and private relationship," says Ando.
The luminous street façade—made of laminated-glass panes—presages the radical use of light, space and materials within.
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"This house is a collaboration," says Ando (above, with Obayashi). "To understand the collaboration is to understand that, in a museum, the architect works with the art."
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A bar and dining room flank the courtyard. "I was surprised by the intensity of the tiles when I first saw them."
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For the bar, designer Tokujin Yoshioka created a table and bench out of slabs of optical glass. The LED piece on the wall is by Tatsuo Miyajima.
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A photograph by Naoya Hatakeyama, left, hangs in the living room. The photograph by Hiroshi Sugimoto depicts Villa Savoye, the structure that inspired Ando to become an architect.
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For the dining room, Ando designed a clean-lined table and chairs in stained Japanese oak.
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One of two galleries on the subterranean level of the house holds pieces from Obayashi's collection of works by young Japanese artists. From left are paintings by Aya Takano, Naofumi Maruyama, Kyoko Murase, Hidekazu Tanaka and Torawo Nakagawa. At left is a Honey-pop chair by Yoshioka.
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A sculpture by Gabriel Orozco is in the lower-level courtyard.
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The tea ceremony room was created by Ko Uehara after Konnichian, a historic tea room in Kyoto.
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