Observations
Lecture by Toshiko Mori
Response by Amale Andraos, Dean of Columbia GSAPP
Toshiko Mori, FAIA is the founding principal of Toshiko Mori Architect, and the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD), where she served as chair of the Department of Architecture from 2002 to 2008. She was inducted to the Academy of Arts and Letters in 2020 and has been a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2016.
She participates in international symposia and conferences and has lectured at universities across the country and around the world. Her recent lectures include the opening lecture of the University of British Columbia School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture’s 2020 Spring Lecture Series; “Cocktails and Conversation” at the Center for Architecture in New York; “Transforming Communities through Architecture” at the Japan Society in New York; the Topaz Medallion keynote address at the 2019 AIA Conference on Architecture in Las Vegas; and the keynote speech at the 2019 AIA Women’s Leadership Summit.
Her firm’s recent work includes master plans for the Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch and the Buffalo Botanical Gardens; “Thread: Artists’ Residency and Cultural Center” in Sinthian, Senegal; “Fass School and Teachers’ Residence” in Fass, Senegal; and the expansion of the Brown University Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Their projects have won awards from Architizer, The Plan, and AIA, and have been internationally exhibited, including at the 2012, 2014 and 2018 Venice Architecture Biennales. TMA has been listed in Architectural Digest’s biennial AD100 in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, and in AN Interior’s Top 50 Architects. Recent publications include the Fass School and Teachers’ Residence in Architectural Record, the Mott Street Development in Architect’s Newspaper, and three features in Architectural Digest for the Fass School, Treeline a private art barn, and a beach house in Suffolk County, NY.
Nikkei Business recently listed Mori as one of 50 Japanese Changing the World; Newsweek Japan listed her as one of 100 Japanese People the World Respects; and Forbes Japan featured her as one of 100 Self Made Women. Her work was featured in the March issue of Monocle, in “Japan, Only the Best: The Nation Making a Difference in the World,” and was featured in Iconic Women of Design, a video series by the New York Times’ T Brand Studio. Her writing has appeared in A+U, The PLAN, and the World Economic Forum Agenda blog. She also contributes a column, “Creating the Future” for the quarterly Hearst publication, Richesse. This year, the firm published two new monographs, one for A+U magazine’s February 2020 issue, and another with ArchiTangle titled Toshiko Mori Architect: Observations.
Mori’s recent awards and honors include the ACSA Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society Gold Medal in 2016; Architectural Record’s Women in Design Leader Award in 2019; and the AIA / ASCA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education in 2019. Her project “Thread: Artists’ Residency and Cultural Center” was awarded the AIA 2017 Institute Honor Award for Architecture and was one of the winners of the inaugural FIBRA Award for Contemporary Plant Fiber-based Architecture in 2019. In May, her project “Fass School and Teachers’ Residence” was featured by The Guardian as one of the world’s top 10 new architecture projects.
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