Toyo Ito of Japan is the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.
Toyo Ito, the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate
The Pritzker Architecture Prize was established in 1979 to annually honor a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture. It has often been described as “architecture’s most prestigious award” or as “the Nobel of architecture.”
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, 2002, London, U.K.
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Toyo Ito was born on June 1, 1941 in Keijo (Seoul), Korea (Japanese). His father was a business man with a special interest in the early ceramic ware of the Yi Dynasty of Korea and Japanese style paintings. In 1943, Ito, his mother, and his two elder sisters moved back to Japan. Two years later, his father returned to Japan as well, and they all lived in his father’s hometown of Shimosuwa-machi in Nagano Prefecture. His father died in 1953, when he was 12. After that the rest of family operated a miso (bean paste) making factory. At present, all but one sister who is three years older than Ito, have died.
Ito established his own architecture office in 1971, and the following year he married. His wife died in 2010.
Sendai Mediatheque, 1995—2000, Sendai-shi, Miyagi, Japan
Photo by Tomio Ohashi
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Toyo Ito calls the Sendai Mediatheque, completed in 2001 in Sendai City, Miyagi, Japan, one of the high points of his career. In the Phaidon book, Toyo Ito, he explains, “The Mediatheque differs from conventional public buildings in many ways. While the building principally functions as a library and art gallery, the administration has actively worked to relax divisions between diverse programs, removing fixed barriers between various media to progressively evoke an image of how cultural facilities should be from now on. This openness is the direct result of its simple structure, consisting of flat concrete slabs (which are honey-comb steel plates with concrete) penetrated by 13 tubes. Walls on each floor are kept to an absolute minimum, allowing the various functions to be freely distributed throughout the open areas between the tubes.“
Za-Koenji Public Theatre, 2005—2008, Suginami-ku, Tokyo, Japan
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Toyo Ito has received numerous international awards, including in 2010, the 22nd Praemium Imperiale in Honor of Prince Takamatsu; and in 2006, The Royal Institute of British Architects’ Royal Gold Medal; and in 2002, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement for 8th Venice Biennale International Exhibition.
Calling him a “creator of timeless buildings,” the Pritzker Jury cites Ito for “infusing his designs with a spiritual dimension and for the poetics that transcend all his works.
Meiso no Mori Municipal Funeral Hall, 2004—2006, Kakamigahara-shi, Gifu, Japan
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Toyo Ito made this comment in reaction to winning the prize:
“Architecture is bound by various social constraints. I have been designing architecture bearing in mind that it would be possible to realize more comfortable spaces if we are freed from all the restrictions even for a little bit. However, when one building is completed, I become painfully aware of my own inadequacy, and it turns into energy to challenge the next project. Probably this process must keep repeating itself in the future. Therefore, I will never fix my architectural style and never be satisfied with my works,” he concluded
Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre, 2000—2004, Matsumoto-shi, Nagano, Japan
Photo by Hiroshi Ueda
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Ito has said that he strives for architecture that is fluid and not confined by what he considers to be the limitations of modern architecture.
When interviewed by Liddell in 2007 Ito commented “That process from creation to realization is very difficult to explain, because, generally speaking, when I imagine something, there’s no gravity and there’s nothing restricting imagination, but when we embark on the process of realization, we have to enter the real world.”
Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture, 2006—2011, Imabari-shi, Ehime, Japan
Photo by Daici Ano
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Toyo Ito museum of Architecture opened in 2011 and showcases his past projects as well as serving as a workshop for young architects.
“Firmness, Commodity and Delight”
If you want to learn more about the Pritzker Architecture Prize check out the beautiful infographic created by Innovus. Click in the image below to see full infographic.
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