Natural Representation of Tadao Ando’s “Church Trilogy”

From the perspective of natural representation, this paper analyzes the architectural design techniques and design concepts of the trilogy of Tadao Ando Church-"Church of the Wind", "Church of Water", and "Church of Light".It extracts the specific representation of natural elements in Ando's architecture: (1) On the Church of the Wind, it is mainly characterized by three aspects: the design source derived from Japan's natural primitive culture, the time and space experience that combines architecture with the natural topography and landforms, and the spirit of creating a natural tranquility place with terroir as the natural medium; (2) On the Church of Water, it is mainly characterized in the ingenious use of natural light, the natural landscape integrated with the indoor environment, the sequence of time and space and natural elements, the solemn Zen culture, the localized regional beauty, and the architectural natural beauty; (3) On the Church of Light, it is mainly characterized in the two aspects of arranging the architectural orientation according to the orientation of the sun and creating a "cross of light" with natural light, and the combination of human-oriented movement and stillness.Through the analysis of natural representation, this paper inspires architects to re-examine natural elements and further explore the methods and concepts of skillfully combining Chinese local culture and modern architecture.