Tadao Ando – Pulitzer Arts Foundation | Jason R Woods

In hindsight, it seems extreme to drive nearly 500 miles to see a building as simple as this one, but here we are. Granted, I stopped to see much more than this one building, but it was certainly worth the distance. The Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis is the second (completed) project I’ve experienced by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, and I doubt it’ll be the last.

Sometimes I like to imagine what kind of musician I would be in a parallel universe, and I’d say somewhere between Bill Withers, Gil Scott-Heron, James Tillman, and Junior Kimbrough. And through another wormhole, I fancy myself an architect much like Ando, building elegant and functional spaces that soothe the soul. The entire building is formed with concrete, laid out in simple, rectangular volumes.

As fortress-like as the exterior of the Pulitzer Foundation seems, it harnesses natural light beautifully in the above ground spaces and invites the user to move freely and leisurely. The structure is formal, but my experience was refreshingly informal and completely unlike many art museums I’ve been to. Perhaps it was the free admission, the take-a-brochure-or-not proposal at the front desk, or the lack of labels by each piece of art, but I stopped to look at work that genuinely interested me on first glance, and felt no pressure to engage myself with the art into a bore.

The couryard, shared with the Contemporary Art Museum next door, houses a permanent work by artist Richard Serra. Named after Joseph Pulitzer, Serra’s Joe is the first of his now widely known spiral Cor-Ten sculptures. Walking into the sculpture progressively encloses you into slight disorientation until it opens back up in the center and your entire world is framed by weathered steel and sky.

The rear facade of the Foundation shows just as much care as the front, and can be enjoyed from a small park nearby. I’m somewhat surprised and disappointed that a building like this is rare in America, but I’m glad it exists and maybe one day, I’ll make it to Japan and get to experience more like it.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, MO by architect Tadao Ando. Photo by Jason R. Woods.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, MO by architect Tadao Ando. Photo by Jason R. Woods.

Courtyard at Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, MO by architect Tadao Ando. Photo by Jason R. Woods.

‘Joe’ sculpture by artist Richard Serra at Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, MO. Photo by Jason R. Woods.

‘Joe’ sculpture by artist Richard Serra at the Pulitzer Arts foundation in St. Louis, MO. Photo by Jason R. Woods

Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, MO by architect Tadao Ando. Photo by Jason R. Woods.

Rear facade of the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, MO by architect Tadao Ando. Photo by Jason R. Woods.

Detail of the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, MO by architect Tadao Ando. Photo by Jason R. Woods.