Five Questions with Architect Toyo Ito
Written By Karly Pierre
Photos Courtesy of Gwangju Design Biennale
Toyo Ito, one of Japan’s most revered contemporary architects, will attend the 6th Gwangju Design Biennale, which will be held Oct. 15-Nov. 13.
Born in Seoul in 1941 to Japanese parents, Ito’s family returned to Japan in 1943. Ito graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1965 with a degree in architecture. Ito began working for his mentor Kiyonori Kikutake, one of the leading figures of the Japanese architectural Metabolist Movement, which sought to incorporate organic concepts in urban structures. When Ito began his own firm, Urban Robot (renamed Toyo Ito & Associates) in 1971, the legacy of his mentor deeply influenced his work as Ito tried to create structures that were “a piece of clothing that must be wrapped around human beings.” He created notable structures such as The Tower of Winds (1986), an interactive tower whose lights respond to variations in sound and wind, and his most iconic design, Sendai Mediatheque(2001), which relies on glass and a weaving of tubes to create a transparent and “barrier-free” environment between nature, media and humanity. Following the devastating 2011 Japanese earthquake, Ito joined the Home-For-All Project with other Japanese architects to create living spaces for communities destroyed in the disaster. In 2013, Ito received the Pritzker Architecture Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in the field.
Gwangju News was able to interview Ito to find out more about his life and work.
Gwangju News: Your designs have been described as airy and interactive. Why are these characteristics important to you in design?
Toyo Ito: Many architecture works in the world are coercive and it feels like they are putting pressure on human beings. My architecture these days is not always light. What I am trying to create recently is a comfortable space where people would love to stay. The “interactive” impression may come from my attempt to create a harmonious relationship between people and the atmosphere.
GN: You often cite nature as inspiration for your architectural designs. Why is nature important to your work?
TI: Human beings used to live in nature as other animals did. However, in modern society, human beings have been separated from nature and have lost their instinctive feeling and flexibility. Therefore, in the modern architecture, I would like to revive the living space as if the human beings are still living in nature.
GN: You worked on the Home-For-All Project after the 2011 Japanese earthquake. How did that experience affect your ideas about the purpose of an architect in society?
TI: For whom and what do many architects create architecture? I wonder if architects are making architecture for architects.
After the 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake, I was trying to restore the social status of the architecture made and designed by all. And I hope young architects can always keep this in their mind.
GN: You have a prestigious career spanning decades. Is there an architectural problem that you are still trying to solve?
TI: I am seriously thinking how to put my answer to the last question into practice in modern architecture. To realize this, I have been going to local communities from the city and continuing designing and making architecture with the local people.
GN: What is your life like on a typical day?
TI: I wake up around 5 o’clock in the morning and then take my dog for a walk. And before breakfast, I think about architecture, and draw some sketches. If I am at the office, I enjoy lunch with my staff, but I do not have lunch so often. At night, I drink alcohol, mostly wine, to reduce stress and watch baseball games on TV at home. The amount of work depends on the day and the situation at the office. Good ideas do not come even if you think of it all the time. I think it will be better to focus your thinking for a short period of time.