The 1993 construction of the Conference Pavilion by Tadao Ando was the architect’s first building outside Japan. The calm and restrained structure encompasses an assortment of conference rooms. It is characterized by a highly ordered spatial articulation with a large part of its volume concealed below grade. A striking feature is the footpath leading to the pavilion, which has a significant association with meditation paths in the gardens of Japanese monasteries. Because cherry trees are of great traditional importance in Japan, Ando sought to preserve as many as possible. Only three cherry trees had to be felled in order to make room for the building.

Tadao Ando, born in Osaka, Japan, in 1941. From 1962-69 trained himself in architecture. After travelling through Europe, the USA and Africa, in 1969 he established an architecture bureau, Tadao Ando Architect & Associates. After guest professorships at the Universities of Yale, Colombia and Harvard, as of 1997 he became a regular professor at the University of Tokyo and is a member of the University Council of the University of Berkeley. In 1991, he became an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, and in 2002, an Honorary Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. In 1995, Tadao Ando received the Hyatt Foundation's Pritzker Architecture Prize.