Toyo Ito

1941 births | Living people Toyo Ito (伊東豊雄, Itō Toyo'o; 1941-) is considered "one of the world's most innovative and influential architects" (Designboom).

Ito is known for creating extreme conceptual architecture, in which he seeks to melt the physical and virtual worlds. He is a leading exponent of architecture that addresses issues of the contemporary notion of a 'simulated' city.

Born in Dailian China, Ito graduated from Tokyo University's, Department of Architecture in 1965. After a period of time in Kiyonori Kikutake Architect and Associate, he started his own studio, 'Urban Robot' (urbot) in 1971, in Tokyo. In 1979, the studio changed its name to Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects. Throughout his early carrier Toyo Ito constructed numbers of private housing projects that revealed the hiden layer of urban life in Japan. His most remarkable early conceptual contributions were made through the projects of this scale. See White U in 1976 and Silver Hut in 1984.

With the 'Pao for the Tokyo Nomad Girl' Project's in 1985 Toyo Ito developed a vision of a life of an Urban Nomad, illustorious to the human life involved in the bubble economy of Japan.

Tower of winds in Yokohama in 1986 and Egg of winds in 1991 are interactive landmarks in the public space as the result of creative confrontation with the technical possibilities which the future will bring.

Toyo Ito is known in Japan to raise talentful younger generation of architects. Architects who worked for his office includes, Kazuyo Sejima (SANAA), Klein Dytham Architecture.

Critical vision

The projects by Toyo Ito are inspired by, for example, Japanese philospher Sosuke Mita or the concept of "Nomad" by Gilles Deleuze.

Citation from a lecture of a japanese architecture critic Uehara, "During the post modern movements Toyo Ito took a path that aims to free a role of architecture from being an operative mechanism of human society. In this ITO's vision architecture is a soft translucent shield to provide an ambivalent border condition towards a forceful society: ITO's Architecture appears in the tangible relationship of man-urbanity in the context of highly developed Metropolitan condition. ITO's architecture during this period possesses rich precedence in exploring the potential of integrating architecture and the powerful economic context." end citation. Through such small housing projects Toyo Ito has been defining architecture as the 'dress' for individuals of urban life especially in the modern Japanese Metropolitan life. The theme evolves around the equilibrium between the private and the Metropolitan 'public' life of an individual.

Current Architecture of Toyo Ito is entirely based on his findings from the works of post modern periods. The works of Toyo Ito Associate Architects agressively explores its new formalistic potential. In doing so the practice seeks to find new spatial condition that captivates the philosophy of borderless beings.

Exhibitions

The work of Toyo Ito Associate Architects has been exhibited widely. In 1991 Toyo Ito used 130 Video Projectors to simulate Vision of Japan at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In 2000 Vision and reality at The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art which was made the travelling exhibition. Toyo Ito similarly exploit the effect of video projection as the medium to exhibit architecture. At the Blurring architecture exhibition held at three cities, Tokyo, Antwerp, Auckland between in 1999-2000, Toyo Ito tried to reveal the 'virtual' presence of architecture in human mind. His latest exhibition on his work is Design by toyo ito.

List of his works

1991 - Yatsushiro Municipal Museum
1994 - Old people's home in Yatsushiro
January 26, 2001 - A "unique multi-purpose public cultural centre" in the city of Sendai, Sendai Mediatheque: this stunning complex accommodates a mixed program of library, art gallery, audio-visual library, film studio and café. It was a competition winning scheme chosen from amongst 235 competing proposals.
2006 First Prize "Taichung Opera International Competition" in Taiwan

Awards

Toyo Ito has won many awards including:

the Architecture Institute of Japan Award for Silver Hut in 1986
the 33rd Mainrich Art Award for Yatsushiro Municipal Museum in 1992
the IAA 'interach ‘97' Grand Prix of the Union of Architects in Bulgaria Gold Medal in 1997
the Education Minister’s Art Encouragement Prize in Japan in 1998,
the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2000
the gold prize of the Japanese Good Design Award in 2001
the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2005

Professorship

Toyo Ito has been holding a professorship at the Tokyo Women's University. He is also an honorary professor at the University of North London and has served as guest professor at Columbia University.

External links

Japanese architects