Toyo Ito in 100 words.

Toyo Ito – On Vortexes

Toyo Ito in summary takes an ethereal almost nebulous approach to architecture. He states that formality is not a boon to architecture but the unstable and more chaotic side of architecture is what truly creates unique spaces.
This chaos is not arbitrary but is the effects of controlled movements. Waves caused by the ideas of the architect.
Toyo Ito also purports that there is no perfect response to a context because the site may change at any time .An architect can only seek to stir the waters of the city to create a vortex. A unique area in the water where forces meet.

On Fathy and Boulding

Fathy//Boulding – The social role of architecture

Here we can see a third approach to architecture and living. This approach is a social one where both Fathy and Boulding make notice of the social roles of the architect and even the world at large.

Social reform is something that both writers say needs to be done before any real improvements in the way we  live can be made. Additionally both writers realize that this is no easy task.

First we see Fathy looking at the role of the architect being wider than just the creation of a single final product that must meet the requirements of building codes and standards. He shows how the actions of the architect have a much wider effect on the ethos of a country.
Consequently he charges architects not only as builders but agents of social change. If this challenge is not accepted Fathy predicts a death in the overall cultural spirit of his home country.

Boulding looks at the social problems of the world in a much greater scope. He views the entire earth as a space ship. As a result the amount of social reform that would have to occur to realize this social model would be vastly different from what people are used to. However it is this reform that Boulding says is required if the Earth and humankind are to be able to continue their existence.

This journey as Boulding puts it is the same wide-angle lens that Fathy uses to view his world

On Kahn and Ito - The metaphysics of Architecure

Kahn//Ito – The metaphysics of architecture

Kahn and Ito both have  metaphysical approach to the issue of spaces and architecture.  The overall idea they are presenting is that architecture is a composition of almost chaotic beauty. The issue of creating space is not according to tenets passed down by history.

A space must be based on its context. This context is what informs Ito that the space known as the ‘tent’ is formed because of its context, the cherry blossom tree. It is also this context that is seen when Kahn states that the nature of space reflects what it, the creation, wants to be.

Both writers’ logics move in a step-by-step fashion. For Ito this is a series of events, one forming the other. Kahn has a explanation that more resembles an evolution of a single thing. However both writers are saying the same thing ‘Space grows out of its context’

Toyo Ito's eastern upbringing gives him a different outlook on life from many westerners as a result many of my colleagues had difficulty in truly understanding what Ito had to say.

Both writers view architecture in a metaphorical sense. Perhaps intangibility is possibly been the ‘beauty’ which builders of times gone by have sought after.