The following is a Feb. 9 press release from Sarasota, Fla.-based Architecture Sarasota naming architect Toshiko Mori, FAIA, the first recipient of its Philip Hanson Hiss Award.
Architecture Sarasota is pleased to announce the recipient of its inaugural Philip Hanson Hiss Award: Toshiko Mori, an acclaimed architect known for her ecologically sensitive, site-responsive design philosophy and inventive use of materials.
The annual award was established to honor today’s pioneers of innovative design within the built environment, and to celebrate the contributions of Philip Hanson Hiss III (1910-1988), the primary catalyst, impresario and promoter of the Sarasota School of Architecture — a modern architecture movement that addressed the distinct geographic, climatic, and socio-cultural context of South Florida’s Gulf Coast region. On Saturday, March 11th, Architecture Sarasota’s newly appointed President, Morris (Marty) Hylton III, will join Mori in a public conversation about her practice at the Mildred Sainer Pavilion at the New College of Florida (Caples Campus), before honoring her that evening at an award ceremony and benefit gala — the non-profit organization’s largest annual fundraising event.
Known as “the man who made Sarasota modern,” Hiss not only transformed Sarasota into a celebrated destination, but also laid the groundwork for a flourishing local community. Having an innate understanding of the relationship between education and architecture, Hiss joined Sarasota's public school board to advocate for the construction of nine new schools, a dedication which reverberates with the trajectory of Toshiko Mori’s own career. He also conceived of a community of climate-sensitive modernist homes, Lido Shores, converting what was once an uninhabited sandbar into the city’s most desirable neighborhood. Lido Shores broke ground in 1952 with a model home that has become an icon of Sarasota Modernism: architect Paul Rudolph's 'Umbrella House', which today remains meticulously preserved under the care and stewardship of Architecture Sarasota, and will host the organization’s award ceremony and benefit.
Throughout her nearly four-decade long career Mori has established herself as a leader of contemporary architectural thought through a practice characterized by site-specificity and innovation, both in material and design, solving the unique sets of challenges presented by a given landscape. Born in Kobe, Japan, and educated at the Cooper Union in New York, Mori is also a distinguished educator — in 1995, she became the first woman to receive tenure at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. This facet of her career is also reflected in her architectural practice, with the buildings of many educational and public institutions — from the Fass School and Teachers’ Residence in Senegal to the Brooklyn Public Library. Having described herself as being engaged in a game of chess with the great names of American Modernism, including members of the Sarasota School, she has upheld the intellectual underpinnings of the movement. This is exemplified in the restoration projects in her portfolio, notably including the addition of two pavilions to the Rudolph-designed Burkhardt-Cohen House property, just outside of Sarasota, which will be discussed during the conversation between Mori and Hylton.
“Sarasota remains to be a place of potential and optimism in my career and it taught me to be responsive to its environment and ecology. I was able to study its flora and fauna; both its strength and fragility. I learned how one needs to survive in balance with nature. I am honored to receive this award from the place and organization that shares our values,” says Mori.
“Toshiko Mori’s practice is aligned with our guiding belief that architecture should be responsive to its physical, social, and cultural context,” comments Hylton. “Whether it it’s the restoration projects she takes on, or the buildings she designs from the ground up — her work originates in a logic that is akin to the of the members of the Sarasota School, deeply rooted in a consideration of the environment in which it exists, the communities that inhabit it, searching for solutions in material and structural innovation, striving for longevity.”
“Establishing the Philip Hanson Hiss Award provides an important opportunity for our organization to express the values at the core of our mission, which is rooted in Hiss’s belief that good architecture can transform places and inspire lives,” notes Board President Anne Essner. “It is extremely fitting that Toshiko Mori was chosen as this year’s honoree, both for directing the preservation of an important Rudolph residence from the Sarasota School but also for influencing, through her involvement in education, architects and thinkers who will build on her example.”
