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toyo ito

Home Tag toyo ito
zaha hadid alleges collusion against japanese government and architects over tokyo national stadium.

zaha hadid alleges collusion against japanese government and architects over tokyo national stadium.

Dec 22, 2015

zha-headshot-stadium1

responding to the winning proposal to design the tokyo national stadium, zaha hadid, who’s design won the juried international competition over two years, accuses the japanese government and local architects of collusion over tokyo national stadium.

[official zha statement] “we were honoured to be selected to design a stadium that would enable japan to welcome the world for the 2019 rugby world cup and bring the 2020 olympic games to tokyo, before becoming a new home for japanese sport for many future generations.

“sadly the japanese authorities, with the support of some of those from our own profession in japan, have colluded to close the doors on the project to the world.

“this shocking treatment of an international design and engineering team, as well as the respected japanese design companies with whom we worked, was not about design or budget. in fact much of our two years of detailed design work and the cost savings we recommended have been validated by the remarkable similarities of our original detailed stadium layout and our seating bowl configuration with those of the design announced today.

“work would already be underway building the stadium if the original design team had simply been able to develop this original design, avoiding the increased costs of an 18 month delay and risk that it may not be ready in time for the 2020 games.”

zaha hadid

zha-stadium-kuma1

above/below> kengo kuma’s winning concept incorporates the surrounding trees of the jingu shrine to create a stadium of wood and greenery. the roofing is a hybrid structure that uses wood and steel. the plan is for a stadium that cooperates with the surrounding environment and utilizes the latest technology to create a modern interpretation regarding japan’s climate, culture and tradition.

zha-stadium-kuma2

zha-stadium-ito1

above/below> what defines toyo ito’s runner-up concept is it’s unique and feathery undulating roof and the 72 wooden pillars. the weight-bearing pillars are symbolic of japan’s tradition of building pillars to honor festivities and also reference japan’s 72 micro-seasons.

zha-stadium-ito2

in the end, this project inspired two concepts, one a swank sculptural landmark that connects to the future, the other, a frugal nod to tradition that integrates with an everyday present.

somewhere in the research of this article, it was said that the track surface for kuma’s proposal will not pass olympic standards and the national stadium as is can accommodate the 2019 rugby world cup but not the 2020 olympics. but this is not confirmed.

so, each concept is not without controversy, the first led by credible rival local architects, two of whom were the winner and runner-up for the project. and both the runner-up and winner raise comments from even advocates that this is not their best efforts, suggesting a committee designed solution.

zaha does make a case for collusion with the following statement:

zaha hadid architects with arup sports won the international competition to design the new national stadium in 2012. the design was successfully used by tokyo in 2013 when bidding for the 2020 olympic and paralympic games.

zha and arup sports have been collaborating on the design with the sekkei joint venture that includes four of the largest design consultants in japan led by nikken sekkei.

the team selected in the new, restricted, competition includes azusa sekkei, who were part of the zha supervised original design team and focussed specifically on the seating bowl, and also one of the original contractors, taisei. taisei were contracted to deliver the ‘sunken bowl’ of the original zha/arup design (seating, access strategy, etc) and, along with azusa, had access to all of the detailed drawings, plans and work carried out over 2 years by the original design team.

this includes access to the detailed cost savings proposed (and associated design work) by the zha/arup sport including: reducing permanent capacity to 68k with temporary seats used to reach 80k; removing the retractable roof; removing air-conditioning from under each of the seats; removing the public walkway and viewing points around the venue,removing the permanent running track and removing the non-stadium functions such a convention centre, museum and gym. when zha proposed these changes they were rejected by the client and the team was eventually instructed to cease proposing cost-saving solutions. however, all these cost-saving solutions were adopted in the brief of the new competition.

zha wrote to the client on 21 august 2015 stressing that all the design work to date was the intellectual property of zha.

[ in-depth analysis of original zha stadium ]

2014 pritzker architectural prize: shigeru ban.

2014 pritzker architectural prize: shigeru ban.

Mar 26, 2014

above> shigeru ban | photo richard drew/ap

Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban, a 56-year-old architect born in Tokyo, was named the winner of his profession’s top honor. Ban is the seventh Japanese architect to receive the prize since it was established in 1979, following Kenzo Tange in 1987, Fumihiko Maki in 1993, Tadao Ando in 1995, and the third in the past five years with the team of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in 2010, and Toyo Ito last year.

His body of work is diverse, brilliant, a mix of both minimal and complex architecture, art and poetry. Seemingly minimal with conventional architectural materials and complex by structural necessity for his use of exposed wood, plastic and paper. Like all master craftsman, despite the diversity there’s a signature presence. Strikingly, amid all his architectural achievements is his passion for humanity. Quite a combination and frankly needed.

“Receiving this prize is a great honor, and with it, I must be careful,” said Ban, who splits his time between offices in Tokyo, Paris and New York. “I must continue to listen to the people I work for, in my private residential commissions and in my disaster relief work. I see this prize as encouragement for me to keep doing what I am doing – not to change what I am doing, but to grow.”

ban-housetubes1paper log houses in kobe | 1995 | © Takanobu Sakuma

House Paper Tubes in Kobe, Japan. DIY refugee shelters Ban have proved very popular and effective solution for housing low cost emergency to natural disasters, these have been used in Japan, Vietnam, Turkey, India and China, Haiti, Rwanda and other countries worldwide.

ban-cathedral1cardboard cathedral | 2011 | stephen goodenough /afp/ getty images

ban-breezy2wall-Less house | 1997 | © hiroyuki hirai

above/below > His early residential commissions feel a bit like he became bored and quickly finished projects without walls, windows. Maybe he was the perfect foil for those clients who wanted something different and he solved their problems within a limited budget. Usually a great degree of space and quite utilitarian. His later homes are still very zen-like with more than a dash of sumptuous.

ban-villavista2villa vista | 2010 | © hiroyuki hirai

ban-shutter-apt1metal shutter house | 2010 | © michael moran

above > Many solutions are changelings, able to morph into one function or another, mostly indoor – outdoor excursions.

ban-forest1

above/below > An architect’s home reveals their sensitivities, built in 1997, resides in a forest and the challenge met was no trees were cut down.

ban-forest2

[ jury citation 2014 ]
Since its establishment thirty-five years ago, the goal of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is to recognize living architects for excellence in built work and who make a significant and consistent contribution to humanity.

Shigeru Ban, the 2014 laureate, reflects this spirit of the prize to the fullest. He is an outstanding architect who, for twenty years, has been responding with creativity and high quality design to extreme situations caused by devastating natural disasters. His buildings provide shelter, community centers, and spiritual places for those who have suffered tremendous loss and destruction. When tragedy strikes, he is often there from the beginning, as in Rwanda, Turkey, India, China, Italy, and Haiti, and his home country of Japan, among others.

His creative approach and innovation, especially related to building materials and structures, not merely good intentions, are present in all his works. Through excellent design, in response to pressing challenges, Shigeru Ban has expanded the role of the profession; he has made a place at the table for architects to participate in the dialogue with governments and public agencies, philanthropists, and the affected communities. His sense of responsibility and positive action to create architecture of quality to serve society´s needs, combined with his original approach to these humanitarian challenges, make this year´s winner an exemplary professional.

The recipient has an exceptionally wide-ranging career. Since founding his first office in Tokyo in 1985 and later expanding to New York and Paris, he has undertaken projects that range from minimal dwellings, experimental houses and housing, to museums, exhibition pavilions, conference and concert venues, and office buildings.

An underpinning uniting much of his built work is his experimental approach. He has expanded the architectural field regarding not only the problems and challenges he tackles, but also regarding the tools and techniques to deal with them. He is able to see in standard components and common materials, such as paper tubes, packing materials or shipping containers, opportunities to use them in new ways. He is especially known for his structural innovations and the creative use of unconventional materials like bamboo, fabric, paper, and composites of recycled paper fiber and plastics.

In Naked House, he was able to question the traditional notion of rooms and consequently domestic life, and simultaneously create a translucent, almost magical atmosphere. This was done with modest means: walls externally clad in clear corrugated plastic and sections of white acrylic stretched internally across a timber frame. This sophisticated layered composition of ordinary materials used in a natural and efficient way, provides comfort, efficient environmental performance and simultaneously a sensual quality of light.

His own studio, atop a terrace at the Pompidou Center in Paris for the six years he was working on the museum project for Metz, was built using cardboard tubes and a membrane covering the arched roof. He has also used transportation containers as ready-made elements in museum construction. His body of work is proof of his ability to add value through design. Further new conceptual and structural ideas were developed and can be seen in PC Pile House, House of Double Roof, Furniture House, Wall-less House, and Nine-Square Grid House.

Another theme that runs through his work is the spatial continuity between interior and exterior spaces. In Curtain Wall House, he uses tent-like movable curtains to easily link interior and exterior, yet provide privacy when needed. The fourteen-story Nicolas G. Hayek Center in Tokyo is covered with glass shutters on front and back facades that can be fully opened.

For Shigeru Ban, sustainability is not a concept to add on after the fact; rather, it is intrinsic to architecture. His works strive for appropriate products and systems that are in concert with the environment and the specific context, using renewable and locally produced materials, whenever possible. Just one example is his newly opened Tamedia office building in Zurich, which uses an interlocking timber structural system, completely devoid of joint hardware and glue.

His great knowledge of structure and his appreciation for such masters as Mies van der Rohe and Frei Otto have contributed to the development and clarity of his buildings. His own architecture is direct and honest. However, it is never ordinary, and each new project has an inspired freshness about it. The elegant simplicity and apparent effortlessness of his works are really the result of years of practice and a love for building. Above all, his respect for the people who inhabit his buildings, whether victims of natural disaster or private clients or the public, is always revealed through his thoughtful approach, functional plans, carefully selected appropriate materials, and the richness of spaces he creates.

Shigeru Ban is a tireless architect whose work exudes optimism. Where others may see insurmountable challenges, Ban sees a call to action. Where others might take a tested path, he sees the opportunity to innovate. He is a committed teacher who is not only a role model for younger generation, but also an inspiration.

For all these reasons, Shigeru Ban is the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

1> curtain wall house | 1995 | © hiroyuki hirai
2> nine-square grid house | 1997 | © hiroyuki hirai
3> naked house | 2000 | © hiroyuki hirai
4> hannover expo japan pavilion | 2000 | © hiroyuki hirai
5> picture window house | 2002 | © hiroyuki hirai
6> glass shutter house | 2003
7> paper temporary studio atop pompidou center in paris | 2004 | © didier boy de la tour
8> nicolas g hayek center | 2007 | © hiroyuki hirai
9/10> nine bridges golf club | 2010 | © hiroyuki hirai / © jongoh kim 2010
11/12> centre pompidou-metz | 2010 |© F Martin / © james ewing
13> cardboard cathedral | 2013 | © stephen goodenough
14> swatch corporate headquarters | in progress
15> mount fuji world heritage center | in progress

[ shigeru ban architects ]

<a href="527-ronscope200about ron kovach

house vision. kenya hara.

house vision. kenya hara.

May 12, 2013

2click > enlarge

House Vision was a three-week-long exhibition last March in Tokyo. Curated by Kenya Hara, it’s his vision of the future of the Japanese house, looking ahead 30-40 years. He along with his inner circle of visionary’s believe it’s their responsibility to make their visions in their heads a reality, i.e., as real as an exhibit can be: at 1:1 scale where visitors walk-in, touch, can “get it”. Much of the materials have be repurposed from something else, another group environmental statement. The design team includes shigeru ban, sou fujimoto, jun inokuma, toyo ito, toshiharu naka, yuri naruse, hirokazu suemitsu, hiroshi sugimoto, sumitomo wood and riken yamamoto, among others.

hara13-1kenya hara

.

3-4> #1 beyond the residence | lixil x toyo ito
5-6> #2 house of movement and energy | honda x sou fujimoto
7> #3 local community area principles | riken yamamoto & hirokazu suemitsu & toshiharu naka
8-10> #4 house of suki | sumitomo forestry x hiroshi sugimoto
11-12> #5 house of furniture | muji x shigeru ban
13-14> #6 superlative space | toto x yuri naruse & jun inokuma
15-16> #7 edited house | tsutaya books x real tokyo estate
18-18 > store
1,2,19-21> house vision

photography courtesy of nacása & partners inc | naoyafujii

[ house vision ] [ hara design institute ] [ muji ] [ random publishers ]

Here is what I think may be one of the coolest shows of the year by my favorite guy Kenya Hara. From the [ Architecture for Dogs ] in Miami to [ House Vision ] in Tokyo, this guy is arguably one of the greatest curators alive.

Car companies at milan 2013.

Car companies at milan 2013.

Apr 25, 2013

milan2013-mazda-chairmazda kodo chair

milan2013-maserati-chairmaserati lounge chair | zanotta
click > enlarge

Car companies were at Milan’s furniture fair—Salon del Mobile— en masse this year. Mazda showed a chair inspired by its new Kodo design language while Maserati’s chair was covered in the same Poltrona Frau leather as its seats.

milan2013-bmw1bmw quiet motion installation

BMW hired the hot design team, the Bouroullec brothers, Ronan and Erwan, to design a carousel shaped installation for its electric cars.

milan2013mini-1

Mini’s display was a multimedia wall called Kapooow.

milan2013-lexuslamp1
milan2013-lexuslamp-2lexus inaho interactive robotic light

Lexus pulled in Pritzker prize winning architect Toyo Ito for its display.

milan2013-ford-chair1ford bespoke chair

Ford’s “Futuring Team” of designers came up with a chair and table lamp that embody current trends, the company said. “The Ford Design team has for years attended events such as Salone del Mobile as creative observers, and now we are showing products designed by automotive designers,” said a Ford designer. “Many companies have access to technology, but it is design and innovation that elevates one product above another.”

milan2013-newson1ford 021c

milan2013-twinz1renault twin z

Car companies have used Milan as a showcase before. Ford famously (world’s first automaker to showcase a car) introduced Marc Newson’s O21C car there in 2000. That strategy was echoed in Renault’s partnership this year with Ross Lovegrove on an actual vehicle.

milan2013-audi1audi r18 chair

Two years ago, Audi showed off a chair said to embody its design values.  
 
But never before has there been such a rush of automakers to show talents beyond car building, to latch on to name designers and to turn up the lights and sound at Mobile.

[ milan 2013 ] [ r18 ] [ twin z ]

about phil patton

Toyo ito awarded 2013 pritzker prize.

Mar 19, 2013

14click > enlarge

Japanese architect Toyo Ito, has been named the 37th recipient of the prestigious Pritzker Prize. Ito’s works, described by the jury as “timeless buildings” that express “optimism, lightness and joy” have made waves throughout the world for their distinct pairings of organic form and technological innovation. The award is often referred to as the Nobel prize of the architecture world.

Ito’s Sendai Mediatheque, which survived the devastating magnitude -9.0 earthquake in 2011, is now a striking example of seismically-resistant architecture, while his dragon-shaped stadium in Taiwan was notable not only for it’s unusual form, but also for being entirely solar-powered.

Japanese architect Toyo Ito, 71, joined such luminaries as Frank Gehry, IM Pei and Renzo Piano and became the sixth Japanese architect to receive the prize since it was first awarded in 1979.

Ito, who was recognized for buildings he has designed in Japan and beyond, accepted the honor by saying that whenever he finished designing a building, he became “painfully aware of my own inadequacy, and it turns into energy to challenge the next project. Therefore, I will never fix my architectural style and never be satisfied with my works”.

Some of Ito’s notable creations include the curvaceous Municipal Funeral Hall in Gifu, Japan; the transparent Sendai Mediatheque library in Miyagi, Japan; the arch-filled Tama Art University library in suburban Tokyo; the spiral White O residence in Marbella, Chile; and the angular 2002 Serpentine Gallery pavilion in London.

Chilean architect and Pritzker Prize jury member Alejandro Aravena said: “His buildings are complex, yet his high degree of synthesis means that his works attain a level of calmness, which ultimately allows the inhabitants to freely develop their life and activities in them.”

Ito began his career at Kiyonori Kikutake & Associates after he graduated from Tokyo University in 1965 and he founded his own firm in 1971. His works have been exhibited in museums in the US, England, Denmark, Italy, Chile and numerous cities in Japan.

Ito will receive a $100,000 (£66,000) grant and a bronze medallion at the formal Pritzker ceremony on 29 May at the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

Sponsored by the Hyatt Foundation, the Pritzker Prize was established by the late entrepreneur Jay A Pritzker and his wife, Cindy, to 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.” The Pritzker family founded the prize because of its involvement with developing Hyatt Hotel properties around the world and because architecture was not included in the Nobel prizes. AP

[ toyo ito architects ]
2
4
3
12
13

1> White U residence 1976
2> Silver Hut residence | 1984 | rebuilt 2011 for Toyo Ito Museum
3> Tower of Winds | 1986
4> Yatsushiro Municipal Museum | 1991
5> Sendai Mediatheque 2000
6> Serpentine Gallery Pavilion | 2002
7> Taichung Metropolitan Opera House | 2005
8> Mikimoto Ginza | 2005
9> TOD’S Omotesando Building | 2006
10> Tama Art University Library | 2007
11> Za-Koenji Public Theatre | 2008
12> Main Stadium for The World Games | 2009
13> Museum of Architecture | 2011

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