Toshiko Mori, FAIA is the founding principal of Toshiko Mori Architect PLLC, and the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD). She is a graduate of the Cooper Union Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture and holds an honorary master’s degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
She participates in international symposia and conferences and has lectured at universities across the country and around the world.Her recent lectures include “Cocktails and Conversation” at the Center for Architecture in New York, “Transforming Communities through Architecture” atthe Japan Society in New York; and the Topaz Medallion keynote addressat the 2019 AIA Conference on Architecture, “Blueprint for a Better Future”in Las Vegas. In September, she will be a keynote speaker at the 2019 AIA Women’s Leadership Summit.
Her firm’s recent work includes master plans for the Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch and the Buffalo Botanical Gardens; Thread, a cultural center and artists’ residences in Senegal; and Fass School and Teachers’ Residence in Senegal; and the Brown University Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Their projects have won awards from Architizer, The Plan, and AIA, and have been internationally exhibited, including at the 2012, 2014 and 2018 Venice Architecture Biennales. Thread was recently shortlisted for the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada’s 2019 International Prize for transformative architecture. TMA has been listed in Architectural Digest’s biennial AD100 in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 and in AN Interior’s Top 50 Architects. Recent publications include the FassSchool and Teachers’ Residence in Architectural Record, the Mott Street Development in Architect’s Newspaper, and three features in Architectural Digest for the Fass School, Treeline a private art barn, and a beach house in Suffolk County, NY. Additionally, Fass School was named one of 13 Buildings Redefining Architecture in the Last Five Years by Architectural Digest.
Recently, Nikkei Business listed her as one of 50 Japanese Changing the World; Newsweek Japan listed her as one of 100 Japanese the World Respects; and Forbes Japan featured her as one of 100 Self Made Women. Her work was featured in the March issue of Monocle, in “Japan, Only the Best: The Nation Making a Difference in the World,” and was featured in Iconic Women of Design, a video series by the New York Times’ T Brand Studio. Her writing has appeared in A+U, The PLAN, and the World Economic Forum Agenda blog, among other publications. She also contributes a column, “Creating the Future” for the quarterly Hearst publication, Richesse. Her projects have been the focus of several books including two forthcoming monographs to be published later this year from A+U and ArchiTangle.
She has won numerous awards including the Academy Award in Architecture, from the American Academy of Arts andLetters; the AIA New York Chapter Medal of Honor; the 2016 ACSA Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society Gold Medal; and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She recently received the 2018 Maine in America Award, the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education, the LongHouse Reserve’s LongHouse Award, and the Art OmiArts Leadership Award in 2019.