There are a lot of architectural landmarks across the UAE that deserve a gasp, and at the very least a highly curated Instagram carousel. They carry the country’s cultural memory in concrete, glass, and stone, stitching together stories of pearling, trade, faith, and modern ambition. We have Norman Foster’s National Zayed Museum (opening on December 3, and yes, you may mark your diary), the Abrahamic Family House by Sir David Adjaye, Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi, and Frank Gehry’s soon-to-arrive Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. Now Dubai is preparing to add yet another architectural heavyweight to its already glamorous portfolio.

A new project has been swirling through the city’s creative circles with the energy of a rumour you wish were true. And it is. Meet the Dubai Museum of Art (DUMA), soon to rest on the waters of Dubai Creek like a serene, sculptural creature. Behind it stands a man who is arguably the world’s quietest star architect: Tadao Ando. The creator of some of the most meditative spaces on Earth is now turning his attention to Dubai, and we couldn't resist exploring his path, his philosophy, and the buildings that made his name echo across the globe.

But first things first:

DUMA isn't simply going to be a museum. It is set to become a cultural icon, something between a lighthouse for creativity and a pearl emerging from water. Ando has shaped the five-storey structure as a curved white shell, its lines smooth and calm, as if sketched by the sea and then solidified in concrete. It speaks the language of Dubai’s maritime heritage without ever feeling nostalgic. Instead, it feels confident, modern, and quietly poetic.

Inside, the first and second floors will hold vast, adaptable galleries illuminated by a central circular skylight. This skylight is not merely a hole in the roof but a meticulously engineered light instrument designed to cast a pearl-like shimmer across the museum. Ando is known for focusing on light as if it were a living actor, and DUMA will be no exception.

The third floor houses a VIP lounge and a restaurant that opens onto a sheltered terrace with panoramic views of the skyline. Imagine sipping your coffee while contemplating Dubai Creek, your own reflection, and possibly your life choices. Ando is generous like that.

Lower levels include a library, study rooms, and spaces dedicated to training young creatives. Beyond its exhibitions, the museum will host talks, panels, educational programmes, and art fairs. In short, DUMA aims to be both a cultural hub and a breeding ground for ideas.

Tadao Ando was born in Osaka in 1941, and from the beginning his life showed a refusal to follow the expected path. Raised by his grandmother in a working-class neighbourhood, he lived in a small, fragile wooden house where the wind was a regular guest. For young Ando, this modest home became a sanctuary, a cave of imagination. It was there, at the age of 12, that his fascination with space ignited while watching carpenters transform a room.

And yet, before he became an architect, Ando became a boxer. Yes, a real one, with gloves, rings, and crowd noise. His boxing career allowed him to travel and observe architecture across the world. He would visit buildings designed by Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, and Louis Kahn. These trips weren't holidays; they were self-assigned apprenticeships.

He returned to Japan, took an exam, obtained an architect’s licence, and opened his own studio at 28. No degree. No formal education. Just relentless curiosity and a pile of notebooks filled with sketches. In 1995, he was awarded the Pritzker Prize, the architectural equivalent of an Oscar, a Nobel, and a very respectable handshake all at once.

Ando remains one of the few architects whose concrete looks soft, whose buildings feel alive, and whose interiors have the ability to silence even the loudest minds.

Ando’s architecture is rooted in minimalism, but not the kind that strives to be empty. His minimalism is full of intention. Every surface, every cut, every shaft of light is precisely considered. He sees buildings as places for contemplation, using materials such as concrete, glass, and water to create atmospheric temples of calm.

His approach is often described as “critical regionalism”. In practice, this means he respects landscape rather than imposing himself upon it. He embraces the topography, the climate, the light, and the cultural history of the place. He doesn't disrupt nature; he converses with it.

His use of concrete is almost legendary. Where others see heaviness, Ando sees purity. His concrete is polished to a velvet-smooth finish, often punctuated with perfectly aligned form-tie holes, creating rhythmic patterns that are as architectural as they are artistic.

But perhaps his most powerful tool is natural light. Light in Ando’s world isn't illumination. It is structure. It is emotion. It is the architecture.

Church of Light, Osaka (1999)

Perhaps Ando’s most iconic work, this church consists of a rectangular concrete volume split by an angled wall that does not fully meet the ceiling. The famous cruciform cut in the eastern wall allows daylight to carve itself into the space. There is no ornament, no decoration, and yet the experience is profoundly spiritual. The architecture amplifies the duality of darkness and light, body and spirit, silence and revelation.

Inside, the air feels still. The polished concrete absorbs exterior noise. Visitors become acutely aware of their own breath. It is minimalism at its most powerful, reminding people that a space doesn't need extravagance to touch the soul.

Museum of Wood, Hyogo (1993–94)

Shaped like a truncated cone and enclosed by a circular pond, the Museum of Wood celebrates the relationship between humanity and the natural world. A suspended bridge leads visitors across the water, creating a symbolic transition from everyday life into a space of reflection. Inside, the building explores the materiality of wood, the play of shadow, and the delicate moments where light flickers at the boundary between presence and absence.

4×4 House, Hyogo (2003)

Built on a tiny footprint near the epicentre of a previous earthquake, these two narrow houses stand like minimalistic lighthouses looking out to sea. One structure is made of concrete, the other of wood. Their doors open towards the water, reinforcing the dialogue between architecture and place. They are slender, surprising, and incredibly poetic in their compactness.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St Louis (2001)

This building marked Ando’s first freestanding public commission in the United States. The galleries are bathed in carefully modulated natural light, producing serene spaces that respect both the art and the viewer. Later expansions, carried out in consultation with Ando, remain faithful to his clarity and quiet confidence.

Bourse de Commerce, Paris (2021)

In this historic Parisian rotunda, Ando inserted a massive cylindrical concrete structure with astonishing delicacy. The contrast between the contemporary intervention and the ornate 18th-century envelope is bold, elegant, and strangely harmonious. It now serves as a major venue for François Pinault’s contemporary art collection.

Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima (2004)

An underground museum built to disturb the landscape as little as possible. Despite being submerged, its spaces glow with natural light that shifts subtly throughout the day. The museum houses works by Monet, James Turrell, and Walter De Maria, each displayed in rooms designed specifically for the artworks. It is architecture as choreography: visitors move through half-lit corridors, emerge into radiant spaces, and experience art at a pace dictated by light itself.

Hill of the Buddha, Sapporo (2015)

A monumental stone Buddha sits beneath a hill blanketed with 150,000 lavender plants. Only the head emerges above the earth. Visitors approach through a long concrete tunnel, eventually meeting the statue framed by an open sky. The interplay of seasons transforms the hill from fresh green to purple to snowy white. It is architecture, landscape, and spirituality fused into one.

Benesse House Oval, Naoshima (1995)

A hotel, a museum, and an architectural retreat. An oval pool encircled by six rooms creates a quiet, meditative core. Accessed by monorail, the Oval feels like an intimate sanctuary where art, nature, and architecture blur into a single experience.

Construction is underway on the National Museum of Uzbekistan in Tashkent, Ando’s first major project in Central Asia. It consists of interconnected geometric volumes: a square, a circle, and a triangle. These pure forms create an environment of thought and openness. Large oval voids open the museum to the sky, while walkable roofs link all three volumes. Inside, the minimalist concrete surfaces are shaped by shifting natural light. Once complete, it will become a cultural and civic hub for Tashkent and an emblem of the country’s evolving identity.