A stunning construction of glass and concrete, the building appears from afar to be more akin to a crystal than your typical building. The centre was designed by architect Kisho Kurokawa and located in Roppongi, the unofficial modern architecture district of Tokyo.

Inside, the building proves to be every bit more impressive. The expansive windows allow for immense brightness, illuminating the entrance of the building which nothing but vast open space. Structured concrete staircases creep up the perimeter of the entry, leading to other rooms at the rear of the building whilst a tremendous conical structure fills the emptiness.

Contrasting beautifully with the lightness of the glass and the cool concrete are the dark polished floorboards, peppered with circular air vents at sporadic intervals providing much needed air conditioning to hot little visitors.
The interior walls are a mixture of wooden panelling and smooth grey concrete, tremendous high ceilings and curving walls a welcome opposition to the straight, structured staircases, doorways and exhibition room walls.

We didn’t get to visit the exhibitions being held at the Centre, but the building alone was enough to cause our jaws to drop. The sheer size of the entry hall alone is astounding. The view from the top of the Mori Tower Observatory Deck demonstrates the contrastive structure of the building, the mixture of harsh lines and curving walls which result in a modern, fresh, clean and ultimately very cool structure. Though in Tokyo, you’d expect no less.

If there are any other local Melbournites around on the 17th of Feb, than make sure you check out the international speaker series put on by the RAIA -
Gracing our shores will be the highly accredited and heavily awarded, Toyo Ito.

Visit here for more info

For those of you off shore it I thought I’d put together a few images of Ito’s amazing work.. but first a little background.

Ito is known for creating extreme conceptual architecture, in which he seeks to melt the physical and virtual worlds. He is a leading exponent of architecture that addresses issues of the contemporary notion of a ‘simulated’ city.
Ito was born in Seoul, South Korea (at the time, Japan had taken over the country). Ito did not graduate from Tokyo University’s, Department of Architecture in 1965. After working for Kiyonori Kikutake Architect and Associate from 1965 to 1969, he started his own studio, ‘Urban Robot’ (urbot) in 1971, in Tokyo. In 1979, the studio changed its name to Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects. Throughout his early career Toyo Ito constructed numbers of private housing projects that revealed the hidden layer of urban life in Japan. His most remarkable early conceptual contributions were made through the projects of this scale. See White U in 1976 and Silver Hut in 1984.

This excerpt from good ol’ wiki

Reflecting the sihouettes of elm trees that line the streets are these apparently random concrete braces, together with the floor spanning glass windows.

Toyo Ito & Associates
Tod’s Omotesando

From the man himself..

“In ancient times, architecture was an act of creating an order in the natural world. All through the times since then, for the formalisation of the order, human beings have been seeking a stable spatial composition, which is independent from nature, with pure geometry. This remains essentially unchanged in modernist architecture of the 20th century. However, today, as the ecological environment and the sustainability has been more emerged as a critical issue in urban cities, architectural space has become required to be more open to its surroundings and integrated into the natural environment. The realisation of such space can be made possible by generating a new order based on new geometry, not by the conventional geometry. “Generative Order” means this new order mediated by computer technology. It is never merely an expression for an expression employing three-dimensional curves. This is a basic principle to practice architectural thought that is in step with the times. Since the completion of the “Sendai Mediatheque” project, I have been challenging various attempts in order to build architecture, based on this concept of Generative Order. In my lecture, I would like to share and explore the essence of the spatial order with the audience, showing my works as concrete examples.”
- Toyo Ito

For more images and write up visit arcspace

Images Via

Luis currently residing in Durango, Mexico, describes herself as “a full time dreamer, part time designer and occasional storyteller.”

The lamp is cleverly made from plastic cuttlery, and it’s title ‘gluttony’ hints at a mataphoric story to the design as well -

I love the twisted shadows that are thrown around the walls, creating a unique visual experience.

“Suspension lamp. Finalist in the “house party” competition by designboom. Exhibited at 100% Design Tokyo”

Luis has a large amount more of impresive work. (see some examples below!)

Check it out!