A few simple lines on paper — that's all it was. But there was something extremely alluring about it that intrigued Tadao Ando.
Then barely out of his teens, Ando might not have fully understood what he was looking at: a sketch of the chapel of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp in France, by Le Corbusier, the Swiss architect who more than anybody else shaped the aesthetics of modern architecture in the 20th century. Perhaps it did not feel like a life-changing event at the time, but with hindsight, it was a turning point. It marked the beginning of Ando's passion for architecture. It changed his life forever.
As time went on, Ando became almost obsessed with Le Corbusier. He devoured a secondhand copy of his complete works. He pored over his writings. He read all he could find on the man's life. Still not satisfied, in 1965, he embarked on a long journey, first traveling by boat, from Yokohama to the Soviet Far East, and thence across the continent on the Trans-Siberian railway, before finally reaching Paris, where, he hoped, he would meet the master in person.