The Japanese Art Association and its official advisers from around the world identified Ito as a "conceptual architect" who brought "lightness and transparency" - then forgotten concepts to architecture in the early 1980s. For several decades he was engaged in projects of private houses, until worldwide fame came to him after opening a media library in Sendai (2001). The following year, Ito received the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for his vital contribution and began working on projects outside Japan, of which more and more; today they represent 80% of the architect's current designs.
Toyo Ito attracts the attention of both colleagues and the general public thanks to the always new images of the buildings he creates. He himself declares that he does not want to form his own style, but in order to search for inspiration, he advises to look into himself and find there his “primitive” essence and her vital energy and spirit.
Other winners this year include actress Sophia Loren (theater / cinema), pianist Maurizio Pollini (music), artists Enrico Castellani (painting) and Rebecca Horn (sculpture).
