TOTO

Exhibition Concept
Our work begins from a broad rethinking of architecture and of the human workings behind it as vital activities. Doing this enables even a public building to become something of an “ecosystem” in which the diverse people can be seen as distinct “species”.

To do this we must find conceptual leads, or new lines, to tie together the workings of living things with architecture. In this exhibition, we are presenting these lines of thought and their intertwinings in an immersive, natural-historical way through a multidimensional array of various objects, including models.

We believe that newness is something that is rooted in the very essence of life, for to live means to continue changing. We are certain that a vital energy dwells in things that undergo renewal.

When we say “newness”, however, we are not talking about total unfamiliarity or a disconnectedness from the past. Rather, we are describing something that can actualize what already is but which still remains hidden. This is why we are interested in making architecture not by creating or inventing anew but through discovering.
Akihisa Hirata
Architect Profile
Akihisa Hirata (Architect / Associate Professor, Kyoto University)
Born 1971 in Osaka, Japan. Graduated from the School of Architecture in the Faculty of Engineering at Kyoto University in 1994. Completed the master’s program at the Graduate School of Engineering at Kyoto University in 1997 before joining Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects. Established Akihisa Hirata Architecture Office in 2005. Associate professor at Kyoto University since 2015. Doctor of Engineering.
Notable works include Masuya (2006), the Bloomberg Pavilion (2011), Kotoriku (2014), and the Art Museum & Library, Ota (2017). Awards include the 19th JIA Young Architect Award (2008), Elita Design Award (2012), Golden Lion of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia (2012, co-awarded to authors of the Japan Pavilion), and ADAN Prize (2015), The 31st The Murano Togo Prize(2018), among others. Publications include Akihisa Hirata: Tangling (Contemporary Architect’s Concept Series 8) (LIXIL Publishing). Participated in the exhibition Japanese Constellation at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 2016.

Akihisa Hirata