Toyo Ito’s Wood Architecture Reimagined: A Critique of Modernist Ideology

The work of Japanese architect Toyo Ito has taken a decided shift following the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and the Tsunami. Ito has, over the past decades, critiqued the “rigidity and sterility” of modern architecture made of steel, concrete, and glass. The triple disasters of 2011 prompted him to reexamine why, how, and for and with whom we design architecture. As an alternative to modern architecture driven by efficiency and economy, he demonstrates his reimagination of wood—adaptable, varied, and flexible like nature—in two recent works, both located in rural Japan: the Home-for-All of 2012, a post-disaster community building located at the ground zero of the tsunami, and the Gifu Media Cosmos of 2015, a public library and community center located in the mountainous, rural prefecture of Gifu. In the 2012 Venice Biennale Japanese Pavilion exhibit provocatively titled “Architecture. Possible here?”, the group of architects led by Ito challenges the modernist ideology that had been the foundation of their careers’ work. Is architecture, not simply buildings, possible in an underserved area that suffers from not only a natural disaster but also persistent economic decline and depopulation? This chapter examines the ways in which both the Home-for-All and the Gifu Media Cosmos respond critically to this provocation, specifically through wood, a material with a particular cultural significance in these regions.