Architect Tadao Ando was born on September 13, 1941, in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture.

Soon after his birth, he moved to Osaka to take over his mother's family home. He was adopted by his grandparents and spent his childhood in a tenement house in the downtown area. He eventually became interested in carpentry and began helping out at a nearby woodworking shop. He attended Osaka Prefectural Joto Technical High School and obtained a professional boxing license, but soon gave up on professional careers. After graduating, he worked as a salaryman for a time, but soon quit due to a lack of enthusiasm.

After that, Ando began to earn a living through architecture and interior design work. Around this time, he also began self-studying as an architect, earning a first-class architect license. In 1963, when overseas travel became commonplace, he traveled to Europe. After encountering various European architecture, he embarked on a four-year journey around the world. After returning to Japan, he founded the Tadao Ando Architect & Associates in 1969 and began his full-time career as an architect. Initially, Ando designed private residences, but in 1976 he designed the "Sumiyoshi Row Houses" in Osaka's Sumiyoshi Ward. His modern take on the traditional Kansai row house with its passageway garden was highly praised, and he won an Architectural Institute of Japan Award. Ando's name quickly became known throughout the design industry. Based in Kansai, he subsequently designed museums, associations, and commercial facilities, winning numerous awards for his work, including the Alvar Aalto Prize and the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Following the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995, he became executive chairman of the 10-Year Earthquake Reconstruction Support Committee. While engaging in volunteer activities such as supporting orphans, he devoted himself to the reconstruction of the affected areas. In 2000, he established the Setouchi Olive Foundation to restore the natural beauty of the Seto Inland Sea. He is also actively involved in social contribution activities, such as serving as deputy chairman of the Reconstruction Design Council in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. While working as an architect, he became a professor at the University of Tokyo in 1997 and was appointed professor emeritus in 2003. In 2013, he exhibited his "Dream Chair" at IFFT/Interior Lifestyle Living, and in 2014, he participated in the "Le Japon Rive Gauche" exhibition held at a long-established Paris department store, where he performed live painting on the shop window. That same year, he published his portfolio, "ANDO BOX The 1st Round [drawings]." He was appointed a director of the Tokyo Olympic Games bid committee and will serve as general designer for the 2016 Tokyo Olympics. He also designed the Armani Teatro at the Giorgio Armani Group headquarters in Milan. He has also collaborated with fashion designer Hiroko Koshino, designing her home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, in 1981. This gallery, which exhibits Koshino's artwork, opened to the public in 2014.