Toyo Ito
Toyo Ito (°Seoul, 1941) is a Japanese architect, he ias awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2013.
After working for Kiyonori Kikutake Architect and Associates from 1965 to 1969 (alongside Itsuko Hasegawa), in 1971 he started his own studio in Tokyo, named Urbot (“Urban Robot”). In 1979, the studio name was changed to Toyo Ito & Associates.
Throughout his early career Ito constructed numerous private house projects that expressed aspects of urban life in Japan. His most remarkable early conceptual contributions were made through projects of this scale.
Toyo Ito’s office is known as a training ground for talented younger architects. Architects who previously worked for his office include Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA), Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham (KDa), Katsuya Fukushima, Makoto Yokomizo, and Akihisa Hirata.