Toyo Ito Hon RA (b. 1941)

Toyo Ito was born in 1941 in Seoul under Japanese rule and grew up in Nagano, Japan, his father’s hometown. After graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1965, he worked in the office of Kiyonori Kikutake. In 1971, he founded his own office Urban Robot (URBOT), which was renamed Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects.

Ito has been seeking to go beyond the architecture of Modernism by rediscovering the relationship between architecture and nature and by bringing nature into architecture. Architecture needs to rely on geometry. However, the environment where architecture stands, nature, is not composed of strict geometry and is changing fluidly and dynamically. By adopting novel computer-generated geometries, he aims to create architecture that integrates with nature, creating more comfortable and free spaces that go beyond functionalism, bringing fluid natural movement into architecture.

His representative projects include Sendai Mediatheque (Japan), Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2002 (UK), TOD’S Omotesando Building (Japan), Tama Art University Library (Hachioji Campus, Japan), Kaohsiung National Stadium (Taiwan R.O.C), Torres Porta Fira (Spain), National Taiwan University, College of Social Sciences (Taiwan R.O.C), ‘Minna no Mori’ Gifu Media Cosmos (Japan), Museo Internacional del Barroco (Mexico), National Taichung Theater (Taiwan R.O.C.) and Nanyang Technological University, Academic Building South “Gaia” (Singapore).

He is the recipient of The Royal Gold Medal from The Royal Institute of British Architects, The 22nd Praemium Imperiale in Honor of Prince Takamatsu, The Pritzker Architecture Prize, The UIA Gold Medal, among others.