Personnes et institutions:
- Toyo Ito (architect)
- Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects (archive creator)
- Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects (architect)
Titre:
Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects fonds
Classification:
archives
Niveau de description archivistique:
Fonds
Collation:
- 3710 drawings, including 1072 reprographic copies
5 models
15 panels
3 artefacts
0.23 l.m. of textual records
9 photographs
10 VHS
Présentation du contenu:
The Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects fonds, 1970 – 2011, documents the studio’s architectural work and involvement in exhibitions in the 1970s and 1980s. The records in this fonds represent 34 architectural projects, including built, unbuilt, and conceptual projects. The majority of the projects are located in Japan and are mostly documented through drawings (including sketches and reprographic copies), although models accompany select projects. The projects in this fonds are largely private residences, however, some large public projects, such as the M Building in Kanda (AP226.S1.1985.PR04), MAC Commercial Complex (AP226.S1.1987.PR02), and PMT Building – Nagoya (AP226.S1.1977.PR01), as well as exhibition installations such as Pao I (AP226.S1.1985.PR02 ) and Pao II (AP226.S1.1989.PR01), are also represented in the fonds.
Apart from drawings and models documenting architectural projects, the fonds also consists of panels and drawings for exhibitions in which Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects participated. These exhibitions are: Post Metabolism - The New Wave in Japanese Architecture at the AA School in London, UK (1978), A New Wave of Japanese Architecture hosted by the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York, USA (1978) and Tokyo: Form and Spirits at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, USA (1986). Additionally, the fonds includes 10 VHS tapes with videos promoting and documenting selected projects by Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects.
Numéro de référence:
AP226
Mode de classement:
Prior to its transfer to the CCA from the office of Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects, the material in this fonds was organised by Haruka Inagaki (an archivist hired by the CCA) and Yuma Ota (Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects staff member). The material was arranged by size and project, and each group of records was labelled with its office-assigned project number.
The processing archivist largely maintained this order and arranged the groups of records into 3 series, which reflect the activities documented:
- AP226.S1. Architectural projects
- AP226.S2. Exhibitions
- AP226.S3. Promotional materials
Note biographique:
Toyo Ito (1941 - ) is a Japanese architect. He was born in Seoul, South Korea, which was then under Japanese colonial occupation. He completed his studies in architecture at the University of Tokyo in 1965 and shortly after began working at the office of architect Kiyonori Kikutake [1]. In Tokyo in 1971, Ito founded the architectural studio Urban Robot (URBOT). In the 1970s, a time of rapid expansion in the housing industry in Japan, Urban Robot largely undertook residential projects, including Aluminum House (see project series AP226.S1.1970.PR01 in this fonds) and White U (see project series AP226.S1.1975.PR01 in this fonds) [2]. Urban Robot’s work in the 1970s is often interpreted as a critique of the future-oriented visions of the metabolism movement in Japan [2]. Toyo Ito has written that the studio’s early works, such as Aluminum House, came “out of a sense of unbearable frustration over the state of society and the city” [3].
In 1979, the studio changed its name from Urban Robot to Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects [4]. Over the years, Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects has employed a variety of architects and some of those whose work is documented in this fonds include: Kazuyo Sejima, Yoshiro Sofue, Toshiaki Ishida, Teruaki Ohashi, Takeo Higashi, Kazumichi Iimura, Midori Nada, Makiko Shibata, Masashi Sogabe, and Hirono Koike.
In the early 1980s, Ito, along with Kazuyo Sejima, Yoshiro Sofue, and other staff members, formed the Commodified Housing Study Group [5]. The study group, which was active from about 1981 to 1983, critically engaged with questions surrounding the relationship between the housing industry, architects, and clients. The Dom-ino and Dom-ino Z projects (see project series AP226.S1.1981.PR01 in this fonds) as well as House in Umegaoka (see project series AP226.S1.1981.PR02 in this fonds) came out of the work of the study group [6]. In the 1980s, Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects also explored themes related to consumerism, urbanism, and technology through work such as Pao I: A Dwelling for Tokyo Nomad Women (see project series AP226.S1.1985.PR02) and Pao II: A Dwelling for Tokyo Nomad Women (see project series AP226.S1.1989.PR01 in this fonds) [7].
The mid-1980s saw the studio begin to take on more commercial public projects in addition to private houses. Projects completed during this time include Ito’s family home Silver Hut (see project series AP226.S1.1982.PR02 in this fonds), M Building in Kanda (see project series AP226.S1.1985.PR04), Restaurant and Bar Nomad (see project series AP226.S1.1986.PR02), Tower of Winds Yokohama (see project series AP226.S1.1986.PR03), Guest House for Sapporo Breweries (AP226.S1.1987.PR01) and the MAC Commercial Complex (see project series AP226.S1.1987.PR02). It was also during the 1980s that Ito’s architectural style shifted from the forms that characterised his projects in the previous decade to a more fluid architecture [8].
This lighter and more fluid architecture continued with Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects’ works in the decades that have followed. Selected projects include the Odate Dome (1993), Sendai Mediatheque (2000), and Meiso no Mori Municipal Funeral Hall (2006). Additionally, from the 1990s, Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects began to take commissions for projects outside of Japan, including the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, UK with Cecil Balmond (2002), the Kaohsiung National Stadium in Taiwan (2009), and the Museo International del Barroco in Puebla, Mexico (2016) [9]. In response to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Ito developed the Home-For-All initiative, a program which builds community spaces for victims of the disasters [10]. Additionally in 2011, Ito helped to establish the Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture (TIMA) in Imabari, Japan. The TIMA functions as a research and exhibition space and an architecture education centre for children through the “Ito Juku” project [11]. In 2013, Toyo Ito was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize [12].
Apart from architectural work, throughout his career, Toyo Ito has also published articles, contributed to exhibitions and conferences in Japan, the United States, and across Europe, and has taken teaching positions at universities in the United States, UK, and the Netherlands [13].
References:
[1]. Andrea Maffei, ed. Toyo Ito : works, projects, writings (Electa architecture, 2002), 356.
[2]. CCAchannel. “Find and Tell: Makoto Ueda on Toyo Ito.” December 1, 2023. YouTube video, 6:43. https://youtu.be/N-F8i0tq_Dk?si=_3dSYwBbt7w-WuAj
[3]. Toyo Ito, “A Body Image Beyond the Modern: Is There Residential Architecture Without Criticism?” in Toyo Ito : works, projects, writings, ed. Andrea Maffei (Electa architecture, 2002), 348.
[4]. Andrea Maffei, ed. Toyo Ito : works, projects, writings (Electa architecture, 2002), 356.
[5]. Koji Ichikawa, “Bridging a Chasm,” CCA, accessed March 18, 2026, from https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/articles/83440/bridging-a-chasm
[6]. Koji Ichikawa, “Bridging a Chasm,” CCA, accessed March 18, 2026, from https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/articles/83440/bridging-a-chasm
[7]. Cathelijne Nuijsink. “Negotiating Comfort in the Metropolis: Peter Cook, Toyō Itō, and the Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition, 1977 and 1988,” ABE Journal 18 (2021). Retrieved February 2, 2026, from https://doi.org/10.4000/abe.10444
[8]. Toyo Ito. Toyo Ito with Koji Ichikawa and Others : Meanwhile in Japan. Interview by Kōji Ichikawa. Translated by Susan Chikuba. (Montréal: Canadian Centre for Architecture, 2023), p. 27 – 28.
[9]. Projects (n.d.). Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects. Retrieved March 19, 2026 from http://www.toyo-ito.co.jp/WWW/Project_Chronology/p_c_en.html
[10]. John Hill (2015, March 11). Catching up with home-for-all. world-architects. Retrieved March 19, 2026 from https://www.world-architects.com/en/architecture-news/found/catching-up-with-home-for-all
[11]. On the Opening of the Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture, Imbari (n. d.). TIMA Imbari. Retrieved March 19, 2026 from https://www.tima-imabari.jp/about/
[12]. Toyo Ito of Japan is the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. (n, d.). The Pritzker Architecture Prize. Retrieved March 19, 2026 from https://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates/2013#laureate-page-972
[13]. Andrea Maffei, ed. Toyo Ito : works, projects, writings (Electa architecture, 2002), 356.
[14]. Toyo Ito of Japan is the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. (n, d.). The Pritzker Architecture Prize. Retrieved March 19, 2026 from https://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates/2013#laureate-page-972
Conditions d’accès:
- The CCA collection is open to everyone. We only ask that you reach out to us at ref@cca.qc.ca and make an appointment in advance so we have the time to properly prepare your resources. Note that audiovisual recordings must be digitized for access. Researchers may request access to audiovisual materials by contacting Reference at ref@cca.qc.ca.
Conditions de reproduction:
- For copyright information or permission to reproduce material from the fonds, please contact the CCA (reproductions@cca.qc.ca).
Modalités d’entrée:
- Gift of Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects on November 2, 2023.
Historique de la conservation:
- Prior to being donated to the CCA, the records were in the custody of Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects. From 2010 – 2011, with the opening of the Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture (TIMA), the studio’s inactive records were organised for the first time. Records that were deemed to be important to Toyo Ito’s career were then transferred to the TIMA. The rest remained with the Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects office. The material in this fonds includes records that were stored both by the office and at the TIMA.
Notes de l’archiviste:
-
This fonds was arranged and described by processing archivist Jillian Forsyth (she/her), a white, cis, straight settler, from 2025 to 2026. Her work included rehousing the fonds material and creating a file-level finding aid. Forsyth does not know Japanese and so she used on Google Translate to help identify and understand the records.
This finding aid was edited and approved by CCA Archivist Anna Haywood in March, 2026.
Additionally, note that many of the drawings and panels in this fonds were originally folded into plastic folders that were labelled with the project name, number, and sometimes the phase to which the drawings belonged. To ensure the long-term preservation and accessibility of the records, these folders could not be retained, and the records were transferred to acid-free storage folders and containers. A representative sample of these original plastic folders has been kept, however, to provide insight into Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects’ organisation and storage processes. These folders can be found in the Silver Hut project series (see file AP226.S1.1982.PR02.035 for more information)
Mention de crédit:
When citing the collection as a whole, use the citation:
Toyo Ito fonds, Collection Centre Canadien d’Architecture/
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal.
When citing specific collection material, please refer to the object’s specific credit line.
Langue et écriture des documents:
Sources complémentaires:
- The Fonds régionaux d’art contemporain (FRAC) in Orléans, France [1] and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, USA [2] also hold records created by Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects.
Additionally, M+ in Hong Kong holds the Ohashi Teruaki Archive, which contains a series documenting furniture design drawings for Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects projects [3].
[1]. Collection (n.d.). FRAC Centre-Val de Loire. Retrieved March 19, 2026 from https://collection.frac-centre.fr/artworks
[2]. Toyo Ito (n.d.) MoMA. Retrieved March 19, 2026 from https://www.moma.org/artists/7526-toyo-ito
[3]. Ohashi Teruaki Archive (n.d.). M+ Collection online. Retrieved March 19, 2026 from https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/collection/archives/ohashi-teruaki-archive-ca37/
Note générale:
- This finding aid is an iterative document that is meant to improve as it is used, and the records are accessed by researchers. If you have ideas about how to expand the finding aid, identify errors or inconsistencies, or encounter harmful material in this fonds, please contact the CCA’s Reference team at ref@cca.qc.ca.
