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Taichung Metropolitan Opera House by Toyo Ito

Shapes and forms that seem to spring to life. Spaces that seamlessly integrate interior and exterior. Revolutionary architectural concepts and evolving technologies have in recent years helped realize buildings that once would have been impossible. Toyo Ito, a leading light of this new architecture, is currently advancing projects all over the world.

The information age is bringing diverse changes to our society and cities at unprecedented speeds. Seeking to transcend the uniform grid aesthetics of Modernist architecture that pared diversity down to rational abstract order, Ito proclaims the “emerging grid” concept that embraces richer complexities and transforms standardized rigidity into fluid organic space, a more natural twenty-first century grid scheme that signals endless new possibilities interrelating architecture and people.

This exhibition examines Ito’s new ideas in architecture by focusing on nine works, from the Sendai Mediatheque that opened at the turn of the millenium to his latest Project for Taichung Metropolitan Opera House. Ito’s own hand in the presentation can be seen in the “emerging grid” curvilinear floor and “material strength” large-scale models made of the same steel and wood as the actual buildings. Ceiling-high actual-size plans, computer graphic videos and construction site views further illuminate the various projects from many different angles. The entire exhibition space is designed to give the viewer a full body-and-mind experience of Ito’s New “Real” in architecture.

What’s Ito’s New “Emerging Grid” Concept All About?

The information age is bringing diverse changes to our society and cities at unprecedented speeds. Seeking to transcend the uniform grid aesthetics of Modernist architecture that pared diversity down to rational abstract order, Ito proclaims the “emerging grid” concept that embraces richer complexities and transforms standardized rigidity into fluid organic space, a more natural twenty-first century grid scheme that signals endless new possibilities interrelating architecture and people.
Ito’s latest Project for Taichung Metropolitan Opera House embodies this “emerging grid” via undulating three-dimensional wall-floor continuums that form wave-cave spaces, body cavities suffused with living energy that invite an ever more complex range of human activities. In this space, a nearly 4m large-scale model and computer graphics display this new principle to full effect.

Material Strength and the New “Real”

During the construction of the Sendai Mediatheque, Ito admits to being “overwhelmed” by the power of concrete and steel. Such material strength has proven an important theme in all his recent work. Looking at Ito’s eight projects since Sendai, this 6m-high 35m x 12m-walled gallery provides a powerful experience of Ito’s New “Real” in the form of “emerging grid”-design curvilinear structures from the rooflines of the Island City Central Park “Grin Grin” Building and Crematorium in Kakamigahara completed in rapid succession these last two years. Walking over the undulating floor, the viewer encounters large-scale models executed in very same steel and wood as the buildings themselves, as well as ceiling-high actual-size plans and video monitor presentations of computer graphics and construction site photos for an in-depth triangulation on Ito’s ambitious investigations in each new project.

Toyo Ito in Overview: 35 Years of Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects

A 30m panel display tracing the Ito’s works and thinking from the time he established his architectural office in 1971. Never before seen texts, photos, plans, sketches, model studies and snapshots encapsulate a year-by-year retrospective. Paired with interview videos of former staff members including Kazuyo Sejima, Astrid Klein, Mark Dytham and Makoto Yokomizo, this time frieze illuminates Ito’s activities from many angles.

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Toyo Ito : The New “Real” in Architecture
Period:2006.10.07 ~2006.12.24
Location:Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
Open hours:11:00 – 19:00 (to 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, entry up to 30 minutes before closing)
Closed:Closed on Mondays (except 9 October) / 10 October (Tuesday)
Admission:Adult 1,000 (800) yen, University and High School Students 800 (600) yen, Junior High and Elementary School Students 600 (400) yen
Organizers:Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation / Asahi Shimbun / NHK Promotions / Toyo Ito Exhibition Executive Committee
Exhibition design:Toyo Ito Associates, Architects

>>related website
::Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery::

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