Toyo Ito
Shin Egashira, Toyo Ito, Brett Steele
Running late, I was lucky to get a spot against the wall of our beautiful front members’ room for Toyo Ito’s visit and lunchtime seminar. The forum lent itself to our guest being relaxed and open and it happened on the day following him receiving the RIBA gold medal. He spoke poetically about his work and despite the years ‘at the game’ seemed to retain a clear idea of the kind of architecture he wanted to create – architecture for people to use.
In abstract terms, he correlated the creative process to the making of music and quoted the name of a Japanese composer that he admired greatly. (The name I promptly forgot but was reminded by Hiro. It was Toru Takemitsu.) He hoped that he could expand the boundaries of his work as composers expand the boundaries of music but was frustrated and equally respected the idea that architecture has limitations. He also reflected on principles of geometry and form-making in his work. In literal terms, he discussed the creative process at his office in Tokyo. A simple brain-storming session with staff on first concepts evolves into ‘primitive’ model-making to develop ideas. Sound familiar?
He talked about the aesthetic he believed Japanese architects possessed in the development of design and when asked, noted that he never repeated projects (except once) which seemed to satisfy him tremendously.