Toyo Ito: Sendai Mediatheque (Case Series)

Toyo Ito's architecture makes innovative use of steel and aluminium and includes such paradigm-shifting buildings as the White U House and the Eggs of Winds in Tokyo. This volume focuses on his Mediatheque in Sendai. This structure, which houses a library, art gallery, cinema, lecture theatre and cybercafe, is predicated on the idea that the users of the building occupy a media/information landscape or "digital ecology". Through a series of extraordinary technical advances - floors supported by a system of occupiable hollow tubes and sophisticated information and media networks - the building creates an environment in which people can engage in cultural activities both internally (within the structure) and externally (through digital connections to the world at large). This study investigates the evolution of the structure through a series of essays by experts on media, architectural technology, and digital culture.