The Hill of Buddha is an amazingly religious space at the Makomanai Takino Cemetery, in the region of Sapporo, North of Japan, created by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The temple was built as a hollow mount with its structures surrounding an imposing statue of Buddha. From a certain distance, the Buddha’s head is the unique part of the temple we can see, because almost all of it is underground and covered by grass and lavender plants.
The aim of this project was to build a prayer hall that would enhance the attractiveness of a stone Buddha sculpted 15 years ago. The site is a gently sloping hill on 180 hectares of lush land belonging to a cemetery.
Tadao Ando