Japanese architect Toyo Ito wins Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honour

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Japanese architect Toyo Ito has won the 2013 Pritzker Prize — often called the Nobel Prize of architecture.

Ito’s buildings, which include libraries, theatres and homes, have been praised for their fluid beauty and balance between the physical and virtual world. The Pritzker announcement was made Sunday in Los Angeles by the prize’s jury, which this year included U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

The 71-year-old Ito is the sixth Japanese architect to receive the prize.

Breyer said in a statement that Ito’s architecture “has improved the quality of both public and private spaces” and that it has “inspired many architects, critics and members of the general public alike.”