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Japanese architect Toyo Ito has been named the 2013 Pritzker Laureate, architecture's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, moving him into the ranks of "Starchitects" like Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, and I.M. Pei.
Ito was born in 1941 and grew up dreaming of becoming a baseball player before discovering architecture at Tokyo University. After graduating in 1965 he worked for a prominent firm before opening his own studio in 1971. In the 40 years since, Ito has worked on everything from glorified shacks to giant stadiums, but has no Hadid-esqe hallmark style that unifies his work. Each project represents a creative solution to a difficult problem, but the formal results vary greatly.
“Ito really is a complete architect. He has had a long career, and he is always re-inventing himself, says Stanley T. Allen, Dean of Architecture at Princeton University. “I think this is a mark of his restless creativity.”
In addition to his built works, Ito is also a prolific educator and gifted mentor — perhaps too gifted. His former apprentices Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa received the Pritzker Prize in 2010 — a master/apprentice reversal not seen since Darth Vader destroyed Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The following projects provide a glimpse into the mind and methods of one of the most talented architects working today.
An interior view of the support structure. Photo: Qingyue Li
Instead of hiding structural elements, heat ducts, and water pipes behind walls, Ito made them the central feature of the design which allowed him to flood the space with light from exterior windows as well as these interior columns. The inventive structural design is fully documented in this animation.
While unconventional, the structural system employed in this building proved that Ito is a gifted designer with a solid sense of structural engineering. Viral videos of the building surviving the 2011 earthquake that rocked Japan helped raise Ito's international profile.
Photo: Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects
Sendai Mediatheque
Sendai, Japan — 2001 "The Sendai Mediatheque was the building that cemented Ito's international reputation," says Jessie Turnbull, editor of Toyo Ito: Forces of Nature. "The building is a contemporary interpretation of a library, with an innovative structural system designed in collaboration with the engineer Sasaki. An interior view of the support structure. Photo: Qingyue Li
Instead of hiding structural elements, heat ducts, and water pipes behind walls, Ito made them the central feature of the design which allowed him to flood the space with light from exterior windows as well as these interior columns. The inventive structural design is fully documented in this animation.
While unconventional, the structural system employed in this building proved that Ito is a gifted designer with a solid sense of structural engineering. Viral videos of the building surviving the 2011 earthquake that rocked Japan helped raise Ito's international profile.
Photo: Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects
