PROFILE | TOYO ITO
afraid of letting go what he has accom“In the modern period, architecture has been plished before.” rated highest for its originality. As a result, the Toyo Ito was born on June 1, 1941 in most primal themes — why a building is made Seoul, Korea to Japanese parents. In 1943, Ito, his mother, and his two elder and for whom — have been forgotten. sisters moved back to Japan. Two years later, Ito’s father returned to Japan, and they all lived in his hometown of Shimosuwa-machi in Nagano Prefecture. After the death of Ito’s father in 1953, the rest of family operated a factory that manufactured miso (bean paste). In his youth, Ito admits to not having a great interest in architecture, rather a strong passion for baseball. This changed when he attended an undergraduate diploma design course at the University of Tokyo, subsequently winning the university’s top prize for a design project. Ito began working in the firm of Kiyonori Kikutake & Associates after he graduated in 1965. By 1971, he was ready to start his own studio in Tokyo, and named it Urban Robot (Urbot), changing the name to Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects in 1979. One of Ito’s first projects in 1971 was a home, in a suburb of Tokyo, called Aluminum House. As the name suggests, the structure consisted of a wooden frame completely covered in aluminum. Most of his early works were residences, including the 1976 house ‘White U’ for his sister, greatly admired for its striking form, but demolished in 1997. In the 80s, Ito adopted a minimalist approach, developing a lightness inspired by air and wind. He cites the Sendai Mediatheque, completed in 2001 in Sendai City, Miyagi, Japan, as one of the high points of his career. Functioning as a library and art gallery, the building is a simple structure, consisting of flat concrete slabs, honeycomb steel plates with concrete, penetrated After designing critically-acclaimed buildings such as Sendai by 13 tubes. Mediatheque, Ito became an architect of international imporMore recently, Ito created a building in the fashionable Omotetance during the early-2000s, which led to project commissions sando area of Tokyo for TOD’S, an Italian shoe and handbag comthroughout Asia, Europe, North America and South America. He pany, in which trees provided a source of inspiration. The higher designed the Main Stadium for the 2009 World Games in Kaohup the building, the thinner and more numerous the branches siung and the under-construction Taichung Metropolitan Opera become, with a higher ratio of openings. Similarly, the building House, both in Taiwan. unfolds as interior spaces with various ambiances which relate to In Europe, Ito and his practice renovated the façade of the the various intended uses. Suites Avenue Apartments with striking stainless steel waves
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