Held every 3 years, this congress is one of the largest architectural events in the world known as the “Olympics of Architecture,” and was held for the first time in Japan. The UIA2011 TOKYO Congress was attended by many famous architects, engineers, researchers and students from around the world.

The first day of the congress, September 25, began with a welcome event at the “Tokyo City View,” Roppongi Hills. On September 26, the Opening Ceremony was held in grand style, honored by the presence of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan. On the same evening, one of Japan’s most famous architects, Tadao Ando, gave a public lecture entitled “talking to the young / what architecture is,” which attracted an audience of over 5,000 and was extremely popular.

In fact, Tokyo was selected as the host city for the 2011 Congress back in 2005. As the long preparation period was heading into the final sprint, on March 11th Japan suffered the great earthquake and tsunami. After lengthy deliberations by the organizers and all parties concerned, it was decided to go ahead with convening the UIA2011 TOKYO Congress, under the theme of “DESIGN 2050 – Beyond Disasters, Through Solidarity, Towards Sustainability.”

Thanks to the active participation of many participants from various countries around the world, who debated about what the role of architects should be in striving to deal with and go beyond the various disasters and struggles that the world is facing, UIA2011 proved to be a very meaningful congress.