Archinect - News

Toyo Ito donates early-career archive to the Canadian Centre for Architecture

2023-12-06T17:21:00-05:00

The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) has just announced its acquisition of architect Toyo Ito’s early-career archive.

The trove entails drawings, models, and sketches related to his practice Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects (founded as Urban Robot) from 1971 until 1989. The CCA says the donation will help researchers establish a better through line from the 2013 Pritzker Prize winner's early-career work in dialogue with its other archival holdings. The decision was made in September after 82-year-old Ito apparently determined he could not find an “appropriate place” in his home country in which to store the collection, according to The Yomiuri Shimbun.

In a press announcement, Ito said: “The CCA is an architectural museum and research center I have the utmost trust in. Upon this donation, I received requests from many Japanese architects and researchers, asking if it is possible to keep those archives in Japan. However, I have the confidence that CCA offers unparalleled ac...

Toyo Ito completes work on the largest mass timber building in Asia

2023-05-23T18:00:00-04:00

Toyo Ito has shared photo and video updates at the conclusion of his firm’s monumental academic building project, titled "Gaia," for the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.

The completed mass timber design is now reportedly the largest of its kind in Asia, topping out at six stories and a total of 468,000 square feet. It is the new home of NTU’s Business School and comes equipped with a 190-seat auditorium, 12 large lecture halls, seminar rooms, laboratories, graduate student and faculty offices, and multiple classroom spaces.

Image courtesy NTU Singapore.

Bricks held over from the former NTU Innovation Centre were also repurposed as a decorative wall inside the new structure. The design recently garnered the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore’s Green Mark Platinum (Zero Energy) building award for its impressive sustainable performance metrics, which led to over 2,500 fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide being used per year.

Ima...

The Tokyo Toilets project will star in Wim Wenders' next film

2022-06-27T20:41:00-04:00

The fictional film will be set in a public restroom that is part of the real-life urban renewal project known as the “The Tokyo Toilet project", which involves the creation of 17 public bathrooms in key locations in the Japanese capital with designs by world renowned Japanese architects, such as Tadao Ando and Sou Fujimoto. Wenders said he was inspired by the futuristic look and unique cultural spirit of the project and decided to set his forthcoming untitled film inside one of them.

The angsty Alice in the Cities and Tokyo-Ga director said “there is something very Japanese about the idea, about the whole setting […] I almost think it’s a Utopian idea” in reference to the Nippon Foundation’s two-year-old Tokyo Toilet project, which has to date produced 17 different designs from Toyo Ito, Shigeru Ban, and Tadao Ando, among others. Production will begin in October. The film is said to center around four narratives and stars Koji Yakusho in the lead role as a Tokyo sanitation worker.

“First of all, I love architecture. In another life, I certainly want to be an architect. And I slowly realized how close the work of an architect to the work of a director really is in many ways,” he said at a press conference, referencing Ando's design in particular. “I truly feel like he is a contemporary of mine. Though we don”t meet so often, I feel a connection and I’m happy that I kno...

Toyo Ito designs mushroom-shaped public toilets for Tokyo Toilet project

2021-07-29T19:34:00-04:00

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Toyo Ito has unveiled a public bathroom in the shape of three mushrooms as part of the Tokyo Toilet project.

Ito’s contribution is the 11th toilet to open out of the 17 spread and planned across Tokyo’s Shibuya district. The unique bathroom is located at the bottom of a staircase that leads to the Yoyogi Hachimangu shrine. The toilet is split into three cylindrical structures topped with domed roofs that create a form reminiscent of the mushrooms found in the forest surrounding the shrine.

The decision to create three separate buildings is also for the purpose of creating a space that has a high degree of security. The line of sight passes through the volumes, which makes the facility more inviting and calm. Replacing a pre-existing toilet, Ito’s project expands the space of each private room making them spacious enough to provide functions for elderly people and those with children. The functionalities are redistributed across both the men’s and w...

California Polytechnic University, Pomona's Dept of Architecture awards Toyo Ito the 2021 Richard J. Neutra Award for Professional Excellence

2021-04-14T15:52:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Cal State Polytechnic University, Pomona, an Archinect School Partner

The Department of Architecture, California Polytechnic University, Pomona is pleased to award Toyo Ito the 2021 Richard J. Neutra Award for Professional Excellence. The Neutra Award recognizes the contributions that Richard Neutra, an acclaimed modern architect, and former Cal Poly Pomona lecturer, made to the practice of architecture in the areas of research and design. The Neutra Award acknowledges individuals who have dedicated their careers to researching and developing new environments in which to work, live and play.

Mr. Ito (1941-), graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1965 and worked in the office of Kiyonori Kikutake until 1969. In 1971, he founded his own office Urban Robot (URBOT), which was renamed Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects.

Mr. Ito is the recipient of numerous awards for his innovative and forward-looking architecture. He is the recipient of the Golden Lion ...

'Architecture for Dogs' on display at Japan House London

2020-09-21T17:35:00-04:00

Architecture for Dogs, a playful collection of, well, architecture for dogs, is currently on display for an exhibition at Japan House London. The initiative was "invented by architects" and features designs by architects including MVRDV, Kengo Kuma, Toyo Ito, Ma Yansong, Sou Fujimoto, and many more. Check out some of the structures below:

The Tokyo Toilet Project: Pritzker Prize winners Shigeru Ban, Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, and Fumihiko Maki among designers of new public restrooms

2020-08-17T14:36:00-04:00

Noteworthy Japanese architects, and even some Pritzker Prize laureates, are among the creators of 17 innovative public restroom designs throughout the bustling Shibuya area of Tokyo. Launched by the non-profit The Nippon Foundation, THE TOKYO TOILET project hopes to create save, clean, and appealing facilities "to make them accessible for everyone regardless of gender, age, or disability, to demonstrate the possibilities of an inclusive society."

Five of the 17 planned facilities, envisioned by Shigeru Ban, Fumihiko Maki, Masamichi Katayama/Wonderwall, and Nao Tamura, have recently opened to the public while more are expected to launch later this year and in 2021.

The Tadao Ando-designed restroom is scheduled to open on September 7th. Toilets created by Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma, and Sou Fujimoto will be available next year.

Take a look at the initiative's first five releases below.

Designer: Shigeru Ban

Project description: "There are two things we worry about when entering a public r...

Junya Ishigami: imagining other architectures

2018-04-04T13:52:00-04:00

Freed from the conventions of architecture and construction, what would this world look like? It’s a question Japanese architect Junya Ishigami has been trying to answer for the past decade, dreaming of structures that are as light as a cloud, as vast as the sky, as random as the trees in a forest or the stars in the sky.

Glass Pavilion, Park Groot Vijversburg, NL. Image: junya.ishigami+associates.

The Guardian's architecture critic, Oliver Wainwright, takes a closer at the fascinating work of Junya Ishigami, the bright new star on the Japanese architecture firmament, who is catching more and more mainstream attention with substantial commissions around the world. "[...] it’s tempting to close your eyes and fall under the spell of one of the most original minds in a generation – and be transported to a place where other architectures are possible," Wainwright writes.

In Tokyo, Brand-Name Stores by Brand-Name Architects

2016-03-14T01:03:00-04:00

Many local architects complain that these high-end follies are not serious architecture, but gimmicky flash. In many cases they are right. But that’s O.K. Form, as any architect will learn, follows function. In this case it’s selling a name and a mystique.

Sam Lubell visited Tokyo for some "architectural shopping", taking in the works of many architecture stars (including Herzog and De Meuron, Toyo Ito, Sanaa and MVRDV), for global luxury brands. Thus the requisite trips to sites in Omotesando and Ginza.

If you were looking for "spectacular, game of architectural one–upmanship" in Tokyo where would you visit? Over at Google Map Tour Guide Central (an old feature from 2007), Ludwig Abache offered-up a "version of 'ICON's Magazine Architectural Trail' Aoyama and Harakuju."

Kengo Kuma & Toyo Ito rumored to be designers behind new Tokyo Olympic Stadium proposals

2015-12-15T17:20:00-05:00

Wood latticework, green shrubbery, sunken sports fields and temple-like touches can be seen in the two final design proposals for Tokyo’s controversial new Olympic Stadium. [...] The new proposals [...] are more understated in style and also smaller in physical form compared to the originally commissioned design. [...] The agency has not named the firms behind the two final designs, although unconfirmed local media reports stated that they were Kengo Kuma and Toyo Ito [...].

Design A - rumored to be by the office of Kengo Kuma.

Design B - believed to come from Toyo Ito's firm.

Which design is your immediate favorite? Who is going to finally build the Japan National Stadium? Let us know in the comment section.

UPDATE: Kengo Kuma selected for new Tokyo Olympic Stadium

Previously in the Archinect news:

Exclusive: Graham Foundation announces winners of 2015 Grants to Organizations

2015-08-11T09:01:00-04:00

From Kiev to Los Angeles, from mind-bending artist Dan Graham to stately architect Kevin Roche, the Graham Foundation has announced the 49 international winners of its 2015 Grants to Organizations. Each year, the Foundation gives out two sets of grants: one for individuals including architects, writers, and artists, and one specifically for organizations, such as museums, universities, publishers, and trusts. The grant categories include film, exhibitions, public programs, and publications. This year, $496,500 was awarded to 49 winners from a competitive pool of 200 entries featuring both emerging and established organizations.

In keeping with the Graham Foundation's mission to foster innovative explorations of architecture and art, the winning projects encompass a variety of perceptual and investigative terrain, from the MoMA's exploratory exhibition on Toyo Ito, SANAA and other Japanese architectural firms, to the creation of several new projects for this fall's Chicago Architectur...

Christopher Hawthorne's "infatuation" with Toyo Ito

2015-03-23T13:16:00-04:00

In an era when many architects are acclaimed for impressive rhetoric or jaw-dropping computer renderings — or both — [Ito] has earned his following in purely architectural terms. He knows how to build, to shape space in a way that respects traditional craftsmanship and seems utterly contemporary. [...] That odd and productive co-dependence of design and place, architect and site, is a relationship that doesn't really exist in any other art form.

Hadid and Japanese at loggerheads over ‘turtle-like’ Olympic stadium

2014-12-10T13:59:00-05:00

“They don’t want a foreigner to build in Tokyo for a national stadium. On the other hand, they all have work abroad. Whether it’s Sejima, Toyo Ito, or Maki or Isozaki or Kengo Kuma.” Last month Isozaki, 83, wrote an open letter to the Japan Sports Council, the government body in charge of plans for the 2020 Games, in which he attacked the “distorted” process that has led to “a dull, slow form”.

Previously

Mexico’s $105m Baroque Museum denied environmental permit

2014-09-19T12:36:00-04:00

A Mexican federal agency has denied the environmental permit to allow the construction of the $105m International Baroque Museum in Puebla, less than a month after the groundbreaking ceremony. The project, designed by the Japanese architect and 2013 Pritzker Prize-winner Toyo Ito, was deemed “not applicable” by Semarnat’s (the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources) General Directorate of Environmental Impact and Risk.

Toyo Ito to receive 2014 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture

2014-03-17T15:03:00-04:00

Renowned Japanese architect Toyo Ito was recently named the recipient of the 2014 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture. Hosted by the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Architecture, the annual award recognizes achievements in fields that Thomas Jefferson -- the 3rd U.S. president, author of the Declaration of Independence, and founder of UVA -- excelled in and highly regarded.

Ito will formally receive the medal on Friday, April 11, instead of the traditional date of Jefferson's birthday on April 13. He will also be speaking in a translated public talk at 3:30 p.m. in the UVA Old Cabell Hall Auditorium.

Here's more info about Toyo Ito:

"After studying architecture at the University of Tokyo, Ito worked in the office of prominent Japanese architect Kiyonori Kikutake until founding his own Tokyo-based office, Urban Robot, in 1971, later renamed Toyo Ito & Associates. Ito’s practice has completed a wide range of projects, from small-scale housing to seminal public works,...

The Building After - Artforum talks with this year's Pritzker Prize winner, Toyo Ito

2013-09-06T16:52:00-04:00

Our way of life is still based in twentieth-century ideas, specifically a modernist philosophy that assumes we can use science and technology to conquer nature. So we try to isolate ourselves from nature; our cities are completely segregated from the environment. [...] That kind of modernist thinking has reached its limit.

Toyo Ito’s Pritzker Prize Acceptance Speech

2013-05-30T21:18:00-04:00

Earlier this year in March, it was announced that Japanese architect Toyo Ito would join the ranks of the architecture Gods and be honored with the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize. Last night now at a festive ceremony in Boston's John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, he finally received his coveted medal and $100,000 grant from Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which has sponsored the prize since its founding in 1979.

Following is Ito's full acceptance speech in English:

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen! I am thrilled and honored to be awarded the Pritzker Prize in the presence of so many dear friends and distinguished architects from around the world. It is also a special pleasure to be here, in the John F. Kennedy Library, on the birthday of John F. Kennedy, the 35th President. I do believe this is the best day of my life so far!

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude first to the Pritzker Family: Mrs. Cindy Pritzker, Mr. Thomas J. Pritzker, and Mrs. Margaret Pritzker. I also thank the jury members, Lord Peter Palumbo, Mr. Alejandro Aravena, Mr. Juhani Pallasmaa, Mr. Glenn Murcutt, Mr. Stephen Breyer, Mr. Yung Ho Chang, and Ms. Martha Thorne.

At the same time, being here in Boston, I cannot help but think of the bombing that happened here last month. Please allow me to offer my condolences to the victims and to all of those whose lives were affected by those horrific events.

...

Editor's Picks #308

2013-03-26T16:23:00-04:00

Archinect published work from Beyond Prototype, an advanced digital fabrication seminar developed at Columbia University...Nicholas Cecchi was impressed but also offered some criticism "This is amazing student work...However, I would like architecture schools to stop pushing students to contextualize this kind of research-based exploration. Showing these as enclosures (or the one as a gondola) only undermines the amazing generative capacity of this kind of design"

For the latest edition of the Student Works feature, Archinect published work from Beyond Prototype, an advanced digital fabrication seminar developed at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation by Jason Ivaliotis and Nicholas Kothari. In the course "Students develop parametrically controlled tessellations and transform them into building component systems that can be built using conventional sheet stock materials. These tessellated systems are extracted from the digital realm and built at full scale".

Nicholas Cecchi was impressed but also offered some criticism "This is amazing student work. The craft and quality is great, and the theory behind it is impressive. However, I would like architecture schools to stop pushing students to contextualize this kind of research-based exploration. Showing these as enclosures (or the one as a gondola) only undermines the amazing generative capacity of this kind of design. These should not be taken liter...

Toyo Ito announced as recipient for 2013 Pritzker Prize

2013-03-17T16:09:00-04:00

For nearly 40 years, Toyo Ito has pursued excellence. His work has not remained static and has never been predictable. He has been an inspiration and influenced the thinking of younger generations of architects both within his land and abroad.

Contrary to the popular choice of Steven Holl, in this year's Pritzker Bets thread in the Archinect forum, Toyo Ito takes the prestigious award. Credit goes to members jk3hl, miesian and helenakeys for their insightful predictions (or hopes, to be more accurate).

Steven Ward says, "Yep, there's def a grudge against Holl..."

There's no denying, however, that Toyo Ito is deserving of the Pritzker. Perhaps Holl's year is next.

Tower of Winds, 1986, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, Japan
Photo by Tomio Ohashi

The 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize Ceremony Will Be Held in Boston at the John F. Kennedy Library.

Some comments from this year's jurors:

Toyo Ito, his manner, methodology, and generosity of mind and spirit to the younger generation of architects; as well as the brilliance of the constant innovation and execution of his work throughout his long and distinguished career, are qualities that those younger architects would do well to study. Toyo Ito is, quite simply, a ma...

Toyo Ito’s Flatware for Alessi

2013-01-23T20:05:00-05:00

Mr. Ito, the Japanese architect whose team won a Golden Lion Award at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale for its concepts for new housing after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, recently designed flatware called Mu. Introduced in Paris by the Italian company Alessi, the pattern complements Ku, the delicate porcelain service Mr. Ito created for Alessi in 2006.

Video of Toyo Ito's lecture, "What Was Metabolism? Reflections on the Life of Kiyonori Kikutake"

2012-10-18T12:46:00-04:00

The Metabolist Movement in the 1960s established the foundation from which contemporary architecture in Japan has emerged up to the present. Even today, the visionary architectural and urban projects created by the leading Metabolist Kiyonori Kikutake continue to shine brightly, according to Toyo Ito. In this lecture, he will consider Metabolism’s significance today through his rereading of Kikutake's works of that time.

“Home for All” for Rikuzentakata

2012-10-18T12:35:00-04:00

“Home for All” for Rikuzentakata is a gathering place for those who lost their homes in the tsunami-devastated city in Iwate Prefecture. The project was led by architect Toyo Ito, who collaborated with younger Japanese architects, Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto, and Akihisa Hirata.

From the School Blogs: Arigatou gozaimasu, Mohsen-sama!

2011-08-27T19:25:22-04:00

Due to the overwhelmingly positive response to this semester’s Paris studio offering, we have made plans to continue the Study Abroad Program in Tokyo for the Spring 2012 term. Toyo Ito will instruct the studio, focusing on the tsunami-hit area of Japan.

Sendai Mediatheque | Why One Remained Standing

2011-05-09T19:21:00-04:00

Architecture rarely goes viral on the Internet, but a video of Toyo Ito's Mediatheque in Sendai taken at the height of the Japanese earthquake has had an extraordinary run as an eyewitness and vertigo-inducing account of what it was like to be inside a building during the magnitude-9.0 earthquake that struck Japan on March 11.

Click here to view the video, previously reported and discussed on Archinect.

Live Blog: Junya Ishigami Lecture at Harvard

2011-03-23T16:40:00-04:00

Don't miss out on the excellent live blog "Junya Ishigami in Piper" by Archinect school blogger Lian at Harvard Graduate School of Design. The lecture is part of GSD's new series "A New Innocence: Emerging Trends in Japanese Architecture" which lists an impressive host of speakers, including Sou Fujimoto, Junya Ishigami, Toyo Ito, and Ryue Nishizawa and Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA.