Toshiko Mori is the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and was chair of the Department of Architecture from 2002 to 2008. She is principal of Toshiko Mori Architect, which she established in 1981 in New York City. Mori taught at the Cooper Union School of Architecture from 1983, until joining the Harvard GSD faculty with tenure in 1995. She has been a visiting faculty member at Columbia University and Yale University, where she was the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor in 1992. Mori has taught courses on the tectonics of textiles, materials and fabrication methods in architecture, structural innovations, and the role of architects as agents of change in a global context.

Her firm’s work includes a diverse array of projects, such as libraries, museums, higher education and universities, commercial space, master planning, and residences. Mori’s intelligent approach to ecologically sensitive siting strategies, historical context, and innovative use of materials reflects a creative integration of design and technology. Her designs demonstrate a thoughtful sensitivity to detail and involve extensive research into the site conditions and surrounding context. The work of TMA combines a strong conceptual and theoretical approach with a thorough study of programmatic needs and practical conditions to achieve a design that is both spatially compelling and pragmatically responsive.

Mori has been a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2016 and the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2020, where she currently serves as Vice President of Architecture and as a member of the board. As a member and former chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Design, Mori has participated in sessions to discuss scarcity-driven design, the future of cities and urban information systems, and the role of the arts in improving communities. She has participated in various international symposia and conferences, including panels held at the MoMA, Guggenheim Museum, and the G1 Summit in Japan.

Her two projects in Senegal, Thread Artists’ Residency and Cultural Center and Fass School and Teachers’ Residences, have both won the AIA Architecture Award, while her recent work on the Brooklyn Public Library Central branch won the 2022 MASterworks award for best restoration. Architectural Digest has included Toshiko Mori Architect in their annual AD100 list since 2014, and most recently named her to the AD100 Hall of Fame in 2023. Mori was also named an Elle Décor A-List Titan in 2023. As part of Domus’ centennial 10x10x10 Project in 2023, Mori worked in collaboration with Steven Holl as guest editor.

Nikkei Business has listed Mori as one of 50 Japanese Changing the World; Newsweek Japan listed her as one of 100 Japanese People the World Respects; and Forbes Japan featured her as one of 100 Self Made Women. Her work was featured in Monocle, in “Japan, Only the Best: The Nation Making a Difference in the World,” and was featured in Iconic Women of Design, a video series by the New York Times’ T Brand Studio. Her writing has appeared in A+U, The PLAN, and the World Economic Forum Agenda blog. In 2020, the firm published two new monographs, one for A+U magazine’s February 2020 issue, and another with ArchiTangle titled Toshiko Mori Architect: Observations.

Mori received the Gold Medal for Architecture by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2026, the first woman ever to receive the award. She has also been honored with numerous other awards for her work, including the Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award in 2025, the Asia Society Asia Arts Game Changer Award in 2024, the Philip Hanson Hiss Award in 2023, the Isamu Noguchi Award in 2021, the Louis Auchincloss Prize in 2020, the AIA/ASCA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education in 2019, the OMI Arts Leadership Award in 2019, Architectural Record’s Women in Design Leader Award in 2019, and the Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society Gold Medal in 2016.

In 2009, she established a think tank, VisionArc, which connects local and global issues to mobilize design initiatives for a more sustainable future. The research aims to locate new opportunities to embed design into higher channels and broader fields of practice.

See projects at www.tmarch.com