“Terraced Dreams” by Tadao Ando

How amazing is this architecture? Almost like an Escher drawing coming to life.

Tadao Ando designed Awaji Yumebutai as a way to restore the injured landscape, celebrating nature and life after the tragedy of 1995 Awaji Island earthquake.

• Yumebutai (夢舞台) literally means “Dream Stage”, from yume (夢, “dream”) and butai (舞台, “performance stage, setting”). Metaphorically “a place in which to dream”, the name refers to the aim of restoring the ecology of the island, whose soil had been partly removed for land reclamation in Osaka.

It’s a conference centre, hotel and memorial in one, with a modernist underground chapel, botanical gardens and parks. You can visit much of the complex for free, with a nominal fee for some of the gardens.

One of the crowning pieces is Hyakudane (百段苑), literally a ‘hundred stepped gardens’ climbing the hillside. The flower beds are explored along intersecting Escheresque stairways with varying viewpoints. Best get your orthopaedic shoes on though: we’re talking 1575 steps in total.

This article is published on ArtAddict Galleria, where we explore the intersections of art, history, and culture. Stay tuned for more insights and discoveries!