Toyo Ito was born in 1941. After graduating from the University of Tokyo, Department of Architecture in 1965, he worked for the Metabolist architect Kiyonori Kikutake until 1969. In 1971 he founded his own office, Urban Robot (URBOT), which was renamed Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects in 1979. He has been working on various public and private projects in Japan as well as overseas. “Sendai Mediatheque” built in 2001 is one of the most representative works and has been giving great influence to young generation architects worldwide. Many of his completed projects have been awarded national and international honors. He received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement from the 8th International Architecture Exhibition “NEXT” at the Venice Biennale in 2002 and the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2006. His work has been published and exhibited extensively worldwide. He has taught at several universities including Columbia University, UCLA and Kyoto University as a Visiting Lecturer. He also has been a Commissioner of the Kumamoto Artpolis since 2005.
