Image courtesy of Iwan Baan

Toyo Ito wins 2014 Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello and the University of Virginia selected Tokyo-based architect Toyo Ito for its 2014 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal for Architecture. This award recognizes notable achievements and significant contributions in a field in which Jefferson excelled.

Image courtesy of Iwan Baan

“At its best, architecture is alchemical, transforming the pragmatics of site, structure, program and enclosure into something never before experienced,” said Kim Tanzer, dean of the U.Va. School of Architecture. “It takes us beyond ourselves and helps us aspire to inhabit and contribute to a more evolved world. Toyo Ito’s work has this quality; both ethereal and utterly grounded, fantastical and practical, his architecture helps us to imagine new forms of human experience. His meaningful use of emerging digital tools, combined with his sophisticated deployment of non-Cartesian rationality, will inspire architects for generations to come.”

Image courtesy of Iwan Baan

Ito joins the ranks of a notable list of laureates including Mies van der Rohe, I.M. Pei, Jane Jacobs and Maya Lin. Ito is being recognized for his combination of “conceptual innovation with superbly executed buildings, as in his masterpiece, the Sendai Mediatheque, which reimagines what a public museum and library should be in the digital age,” according to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

more. http://www.toyo-ito.co.jp/