Toshiko Mori: selected work

During this week we present you a selected work of Toshiko Mori, architect born in Japan, and a key figure for the treatment of women in the panorama of contemporary architecture. She has been rewarded on several occasions, published internationally and she is a professor at Harvard.

Toshiko Mori commitment to technology integrated into design, as we can see in their today selected projects: House in Austerlitz, Loft in New York and House in Connecticut II.

House in Austerlitz. Exterior view. Photography © Michael Biondo.

House in Austerlitz (NY), a 4000 square foot single-family home is located on a 74-acre site in upstate New York. The intersecting two main volumes of the house are situated to maximize panoramic views of the surrounding Hudson Valley landscape and Catskill Mountains while simultaneously providing diverse exterior spaces that are protected from the natural elements.

The typology of the Loft originates in New York City. Lofts are often defined by their singular open expansive space, in which both private and public functions of living coexist. In the renovation of this 5600 sf Loft in New York, the typology of the loft and its open plan were carefully considered, reconsidered and reinvented to accommodate the particular programmatic needs of the client.

The project scope for House in Connecticut II (New Canaan, CT) includes a renovation to the original house, a new addition that doubles the square footage, and a renovation to a poolhouse added in 1976. The original house was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1951 for himself and his family. The existing Breuer house contains the public programs of living, dining, family room and kitchen, and the new addition comprises the master bedroom suite and daughters’ bedrooms, with utility space (garage and mudroom) on the lower level.

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Loft in New York. Photography © Iwan Baan.

House in Connecticut II. Exterior view. Photography © Paul Warchol.

House in Connecticut II. Nocturne view. Photography © Paul Warchol.

House in Connecticut II. First floor and second floor plan. Plan courtesy © Toshiko Mori Architect PLLC.

House in Connecticut II. Elevations. Plan courtesy © Toshiko Mori Architect PLLC.

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TOSHIKO MORI

Toshiko Mori is the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and was chair of the Department of Architecture from 2002 to 2008. She has taught at the GSD since 1995. She was the coordinator of the third semester core studio and is a thesis director in the Department of Architecture. Mori is principal of Toshiko Mori Architect, which she established in 1981 in New York City. The firm has been noted for its intelligent approach to historical context, ecologically sensitive strategies, and innovative use of materials, producing a creative integration of design and technology.

Her work has been widely published internationally, and has been featured in numerous exhibitions. She edited a volume on material and fabrication research, Immaterial/Ultramaterial which was later translated into Italian. A monograph of her work, Toshiko Mori Architect, was published by Monacelli Press in 2008. She is currently an advisor to A+U Magazine and serves on the Presidents Council for the Cooper Union. She is Vice-Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Design for the World Economic Forum. Mori taught at the Cooper Union School of Architecture. She has been a visiting faculty member at Columbia University and Yale University, where she was the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor in 1992.

Awards:

· 2011: World Architecture Festival Award Finalist, Syracuse Center of Excellence.
· 2010: New York City Public Design Commission Award for Excellence in Design, Brooklyn’s Children Museum Rooftop Pavilion; World Architecture Festival Award Finalist, Greatbatch Pavilion; American Architecture Award Finalist, Greatbatch Pavilion; AIA New York State Award of Excellence, Greatbatch Pavilion; AIA New York Chapter Architecture Honor Award, Greatbatch Pavilion.
· 2009: AIA Buffalo/Western New York Honor Award, Greatbatch Pavilion; AIA New York State Award of Excellence, Newspaper Café.
· 2008: AIA New York State Award of Excellence, Addition to House on the Gulf of Mexico I; AIA New York Chapter Project Honor Award, Syracuse Center of Excellence.
· 2007: New York City Art Commission Design Award, Poe Park Visitor Center.
· 2006: Design Life Now: National Design Triennial 2006, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
· 2004/2005: Best Architecture of Design Show, U.S. Chapter of the International Association of Art Critics.