Toyo Ito
(Architect)
Born in Japan in 1941, Toyo Ito graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1965. In 1971, he opened his own practice in Tokyo, which was renamed Toyo Ito & Associates in 1979. He is an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects, a member of the Architectural Institute of Japan, and an Honorary Professor at the University of North London.
His projects draw inspiration from nature—“from air, water and wind.” For Ito, architecture is “not a tool” but rather “a meeting place for people’s emotions.”
At the age of 71, he was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture, conferred by the Hyatt Foundation. Recognised for experimenting with new relationships between envelope and structure, Toyo Ito has consistently sought to merge an organic, natural approach with technological research. His aim is for his projects, once built, to be fully contextualised and integrated into their surroundings, also through the use of immaterial and dynamic elements.