When I visited this ethereal suburban Osaka church in December 2008, the original caretaker who convinced Ando to build the structure for his congregation pro-bono was waiting to let me in (I had planned my visit in advance, as per the instructions on the church’s website).
He asked why I came to visit, and I told him that I was studying to be an architect. I’ll never forget his response, saying he hoped I would learn and be inspired by the church so that some day I could develop the skills to build inspiring architecture, “maybe another beautiful church for me” he chuckled.
The furniture in the chapel is made from the re-used concrete formwork
A building created by our hearts
(Tadao Ando’s speech at the dedicational ceremony on May 14, 1989)
Today, I am deeply moved by the feeling that at last the church has been really
completed because we, as builders, and the church members, as users, have been
looking forward to the completion eagerly.
Looking around Osaka, many buildings have been constructed or are under
construction.
In many cases, builders, carpenters, plasterers and others in the field of construction
do not know what building they are making. Owners of buildings just think about what
economic results will occur or how they can make money. People living close to
construction sites are just hoping to recover silence of their area after constructions will
finish.
They are not expecting how they are going to utilize buildings. Many buildings are
completed without celebration by builders or people close to them.
However, construction of this building was tough. At the beginning, Mr. H. Miyamoto
and Minister Karukome came to our office to commission us for a design. They
explained about their conditions. First, they had incredibly limited funds at hand.
Second, they wanted to build a new chapel in addition to the existing wooden building
which they were using as a church at that time. After I heard their explanation about
their conditions, I said that it would be impossible to realize this plan. I thought that it
would not be completed to the end . The more I met them and listened to their plan, the
more I felt desperate. But I came to the conclusion that I would challenge this very
tough project because the church people’s passion and eagerness gave me hope. I
undertook this work knowing that there would be many difficulties.
As I anticipated ,we did have many problems. The hardest one was the construction
rush in the Osaka area. When we were going to finalize the design, it was very hard to
find a construction company to realize this project. One day, Mr. Ichiryu, President of
the Tat8umi Construction Company came to us and said they would undertake this
construction, because it would be highly significant to complete this building although
they thought they could not make any profit on it. Since I was deeply touched by his
passion, I said to him “Let’s make progress through hardships”.
One of the big difficulties was labor shortage in the construction field like concrete form
work craftsmen. Workers, on the way to our construction field, often changed their
mind to get another job where they could earn higher wages.
Construction was gradually behind time schedule. I thought that this chapel might be
completed without any root
But, the church community and the people engaged in construction did not give up
hope.
At that time, I had less chance to visit the construction site and could not share their
sufferings which I could easily have understood if I had met them.
Anyway, the members of our church community, the people of the construction
company and Tadao Ando Architect & Associates continued to walk together looking for
a glimmer of hope. Due to their hard efforts, at last the construction was completed
although it was behind schedule. I have learned that where money makes the world go
round, an assemblage of people’s hearts put forth their strength. That is really what I
should commemorate.
I will keep in mind that people’s hearts can break economy.
Today, I am quite delighted, but I had some concern this morning. On the way to this
ceremony, I became concerned about whether the church people would use this
building well which our office , Mr. Ichiryu and his company people have brought up
under our enduring care and will hand over to the church people today.
However, looking at your faces here, I am now confident that you will keep this
building with even better care than we could expect and that it will improve as time
goes by.
We have just given birth to it. I think that it will grow while you are using it.
And, I hope that this building will help this church become indispensable to the city in
20 or 30 years.
Thank you for giving me such a great commission .
