Two architects honored in newspaper prizes
Two of Japan’s most respected architects were honored by two of its largest newspaper companies recently. On 31 December, the Mainichi Shimbun announced the five winners of its 51st annual Mainichi Arts Award, giving one to architect Kengo Kuma for his job rebuilding the Nezu Museum in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward. A day later the Asahi Shimbun announced that Toyo Ito was among the five recipients of its Asahi Prize. Ito’s award was for his entire body of work to date.
The Asahi Prize is one of the oldest continuing prizes in Japan, having been started in 1929. It is available to anyone working in the arts or academia. The 68-year-old Ito, who is best known for his Sendai Mediatheque, 2001, and who last year completed the stadium for the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is the first architect to receive the prize since Tadao Ando in 1995 and only the sixth to receive the prize in its history. Other recipients this year included the playwright and actor Hideki Noda as well as Kenji Fukaya, a researcher in symplectic geometry.
Meanwhile, the 55-year-old Kengo Kuma has received favourable reviews for his new Nezu Museum, which opened after four years of construction on 7 October last year. The two-story building with a broad gable roof doubles the museum’s original size to 4,000 square meters. Particular care has been paid to the museum’s lighting and over 80,000 LEDs have been used to create lighting conditions suitable for delicate works on silk and washi in the museum’s famous collection.
Other recipients of the Mainichi Arts Award were the Chinese-born actress Ran Otori and the novelist Noboru Tsujihara.
Category: Articles | Posted: January 22nd, 2010 | Author: Edan Corkill
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