Japanese architect Toyo Ito has been named winner of the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize, reports Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times. Most recently known for his Sendai Mediatheque, a library built in 2001 in northern Japan that survived the country’s devastating earthquake two years ago, Ito, seventy-one, has created a body of work that establishes a connection between interior and exterior conditions by employing lightweight structures such as mesh, perforated aluminum, and permeable fabrics. Born in 1941 in Seoul (known then as Keijo), Ito attended the University of Tokyo, where he found architecture to be his main interest. After graduating in 1965, he began working at the firm Kiyonori Kikutake & Associates, leaving six years later to start his own studio, which became Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects. Since then, he has received many awards, including the Praemium Imperiale in 2010 and a Golden Lion Award at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. “Toyo Ito is a creator of timeless buildings, who at the same time boldly charts new paths,” the Pritzker jury said about its decision. “His architecture projects an air of optimism, lightness, and joy and is infused with both a sense of uniqueness and universality.” Ito will receive the award on May 29 at a ceremony in his honor at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.