Frank Lloyd Wright may have been a world-renowned architect, and his homes regularly listed for seven-figure prices, sometimes even more.
But he doesn’t know anything about the 81-year-old Japanese architect Tadao Ando, whose houses are in demand by some of the world’s wealthiest people, According to the Wall Street Journallake.
Beyonce and Jay-Z, for example, recently paid a record $200 million for an Ando-designed home. The music superstar couple purchased the nearly six-acre property at 27712 Pacific Coast Highway. The seller, art collector Bill Bell Jr., the son of the creator of the soap operas “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “The Young and the Restless,” commissioned Ando to build the 40,000-square-foot house overlooking the Pacific Ocean. concrete mansion.
Hova and Queen Bey weren’t the only celebrities drawn to Ando’s work. Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, bought the Ando-designed residence in Malibu in 2021 for just over $57 million.
While Wright is known for the sheer volume of his work, there are fewer than 20 Ando-designed homes in the United States
People talk about Ando with reverence.
“It was like working with God,” Compass agent Leonard Steinberg told the outlet of his experience working on sales of Ando-designed New York apartments. “
Kim Kardashian, who commissioned Ando to design her home in Palm Desert, California, also has nothing but praise for him.
“Meet with the master himself, Tadao Ando, to review and discuss the dream project we’ve been working on for the past two years,” she said on social media, according to the outlet.
With such rave acclaim, Ando’s work is considered more art than just functional housing.
“It’s pushing the design concept to an abnormal level,” architect Leo Marmol told the publication. “Clients have to be willing to accept that and see their relationship with Mr. Ando as working with a true master.”
— Ted Glazer
