Japanese Architect Toyo Ito Charged To Lead Berkeley, California Renaissance In Architectural/Environmental Sustainability And Transparency

"The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA), one of the nation's leading university art museums — and one of a select group of institutions internationally presenting both art and film — [announced on September 26, 2006] that Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects has been selected to design a new center for the visual arts in downtown Berkeley.

"We are delighted to announce that Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects has been chosen from an international field of architects to design the new museum and film archive," says BAM/PFA Director Kevin E. Consey. "The firm was chosen for its robust and imaginative body of work, that balances poetry and elegance of design with proven constructability and innovative use of technology. It is especially exciting that this project will be the first in the U.S. for this internationally acclaimed and admired architect. We believe Ito's design will be an inspiration to generations of California's best and brightest students attending the nation's finest public university."

Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects was selected by a committee made up of BAM/PFA trustees and staff, and UC Berkeley staff, including faculty members from the College of Environmental Design. This committee solicited qualifications from 141 architects and narrowed that selection to twenty, then five. The committee then made site visits and interviewed each of the five architects under consideration for the project, before making a recommendation that was approved by UC Berkeley's Chancellor, Robert Birgeneau.

"Toyo Ito is the perfect choice for this project. His designs embrace values that align with those of the Berkeley community, such as environmental sensitivity and sustainability, and the importance of accessibility and transparency for public institutions. It is appropriate that UC Berkeley will be home to the first major U.S. project by this important and innovative architect, whose work embodies the experimental and innovative tradition of the campus," says Noel Nellis, BAM/PFA Board President. "Our new facility will be an architectural and cultural icon for generations of UC Berkeley students, the Berkeley community, the Bay Area, and beyond."" ...

BAMPFA Press Release " UC BERKELEY ART MUSEUM AND PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE ANNOUNCES ARCHITECT FOR NEW BUILDING PROJECT" September 26, 2006

http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/newbuilding/index.html

*

"Toyo Ito has been an inspiration for generations of architects worldwide since his work started to receive international acclaim in the 1970s. For thirty years he has been a leading figure in architecture."

—Jack Pringle, President, Royal Institute of British Architects



















Competition design image for Toyo Ito and Associate's Sendai, Japan Médiathèque.

Photo credit: City of Sendai, Japan Archive. www.smt.city.sendai.jp. With thanks.