Toshiko Mori: Transforming Communities through Architecture
Toshiko Mori: Transforming Communities through Architecture
Good design can have a profound impact on local art and communities, as exemplified by the Setouchi region of Japan. In the post-World War II period, there was significant patronage of modern art and architecture in this region. In 1958, Kenzo Tange, whose work combines modern architecture with traditional Japanese techniques and symbolism, designed Kagawa Prefecture's governmental office building. This sparked an artistic renaissance, and the area has become an internationally acclaimed creative hub centered around the Setouchi Art Triennale. At this talk, Prof. Toshiko Mori, founder of Toshiko Mori Architect PLLC and Professor of Architecture at Harvard University, examines this unique artistic and architectural phenomenon. She will also touch on her two projects in villages in Senegal that share a similar ambition to create peace and stability by integrating contemporary architecture with vernacular buildings and local culture. Moderated by Prof. Nader Tehrani, Dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union and Principal of NADAAA.
Toshiko Mori, FAIA is the founding principal of Toshiko Mori Architect PLLC in New York City and the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she was chair of the Department of Architecture from 2002 to 2008.
Her firm’s recent work includes master plans for the Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch and the Buffalo Botanical Gardens; Thread, a cultural center and artists’ residences in Senegal; and Fass School and Teachers’ Residence in Senegal; and the Brown University Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Their projects have been exhibited internationally and have received awards from Architizer, The Plan, and the AIA. Recent publications include features of the Fass School and Teachers’ Residence was in Architectural Record, of Treeline in Architectural Digest, and an interview in Monocle.
She has been awarded the Academy Award in Architecture, from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; the AIA New York Chapter Medal of Honor; and the 2016 ACSA Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society Gold Medal; and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She recently received the 2018 Maine in America Award and the 2019 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education, and was honored at the Longhouse Reserve’s annual winter benefit. She will receive the OMI Arts Leadership Award in 2019.
Nader Tehrani is a founding principal of NADAAA, a practice dedicated to the advancement of design innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and an intensive dialogue with the construction industry. He is also Dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union. His work has been recognized with notable awards, including the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture, the United States Artists Fellowship in Architecture and Design, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture, and eighteen Progressive Architecture Awards. He served as the Frank O. Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architectural Design at the University of Toronto and is currently the inaugural Paul Helmle Fellow at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He also recently was the William A. Bernoudy Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.
This program is supported in part by an award from the Japan-United States Friendship Commission.
------
Visit:
Like:
Follow:
Watch:
Join:
Teach: