Full Name
Toshiko Mori
Speaker Bio
Toshiko Mori is the founder and principal of Toshiko Mori Architect and founder of VisionArc, a think-tank promoting global dialogue for a sustainable future. She is the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and was chair of the Department of Architecture from 2002 to 2008. Previously, Mori taught at the Cooper Union School of Architecture from 1983, until joining the Harvard GSD in 1995 as both the first woman and first person of color to receive tenure in the GSD’s history.
Mori has been a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2016 and the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2020. She has been honored with numerous awards, including the Philip Hanson Hiss Award in 2023, the Isamu Noguchi Award in 2021, the Louis Auchincloss Prize in 2020, the AIA/ASCA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education in 2019, the OMI Arts Leadership Award in 2019, Architectural Record’s Women in Design Leader Award in 2019, and the Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society Gold Medal in 2016.
Her firm’s recent work includes master plans for the Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch; Thread, a cultural center and artists’ residences in Senegal; the Fass School and Teachers’ Residence in Senegal; the Brown University Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs; The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, Maine; and a ground-up commercial building in the heart of New York’s Soho neighborhood. Her two projects in Senegal, Thread Artists’ Residency and Cultural Center and Fass School and Teachers’ Residences, have both won the AIA Architecture Award, while her recent work on the Brooklyn Public Library Central branch won the 2022 MASterworks award for best restoration. Architectural Digest has included Toshiko Mori Architect in their annual AD100 list since 2014.
Mori’s strong research-based approach to design has been commended in invitations to lectures and conferences around the world. As a member and former chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Design, Mori has participated in sessions to discuss scarcity-driven design, the future of cities and urban information systems, and the role of the arts in improving communities. She has participated in international symposia and conferences, including panels held at the MoMA, Guggenheim Museum, and the G1 Summit in Japan. In 2020, the firm published two new monographs, one for A+U magazine’s February 2020 issue, and another with ArchiTangle titled Toshiko Mori Architect: Observations. In 2023, Toshiko is working with Steven Holl as guest editor for Domus magazine, becoming the the first women to act as editor in the magazine’s 95 year history.
Mori has been a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2016 and the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2020. She has been honored with numerous awards, including the Philip Hanson Hiss Award in 2023, the Isamu Noguchi Award in 2021, the Louis Auchincloss Prize in 2020, the AIA/ASCA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education in 2019, the OMI Arts Leadership Award in 2019, Architectural Record’s Women in Design Leader Award in 2019, and the Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society Gold Medal in 2016.
Her firm’s recent work includes master plans for the Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch; Thread, a cultural center and artists’ residences in Senegal; the Fass School and Teachers’ Residence in Senegal; the Brown University Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs; The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, Maine; and a ground-up commercial building in the heart of New York’s Soho neighborhood. Her two projects in Senegal, Thread Artists’ Residency and Cultural Center and Fass School and Teachers’ Residences, have both won the AIA Architecture Award, while her recent work on the Brooklyn Public Library Central branch won the 2022 MASterworks award for best restoration. Architectural Digest has included Toshiko Mori Architect in their annual AD100 list since 2014.
Mori’s strong research-based approach to design has been commended in invitations to lectures and conferences around the world. As a member and former chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Design, Mori has participated in sessions to discuss scarcity-driven design, the future of cities and urban information systems, and the role of the arts in improving communities. She has participated in international symposia and conferences, including panels held at the MoMA, Guggenheim Museum, and the G1 Summit in Japan. In 2020, the firm published two new monographs, one for A+U magazine’s February 2020 issue, and another with ArchiTangle titled Toshiko Mori Architect: Observations. In 2023, Toshiko is working with Steven Holl as guest editor for Domus magazine, becoming the the first women to act as editor in the magazine’s 95 year history.
Speaking At
