The International Union of Architects (UIA) has awarded its top honour to the Japanese architect Toyo Ito in celebration of his lifetime achievements in the sector.

The UIA Bureau meets every three years to decide the winners of its prestigious UIA Prizes, which were founded in 1961 to honour professionals “whose qualities, talents, and actions have had an international impact on the diverse sectors of architectural practice.”

Ito was nominated for the top accolade, the UIA Gold Medal, by the Japan Institute of Architects.

The architect, who also won the Pritzker Prize in 2013, is widely celebrated for his conceptual designs – including the beamless, curving National Taichung Theater in Taiwan, the International Museum of the Baroque in Puebla and the snake-like National Stadium of Taiwan – and his legacy recently inspired a dedicated exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Previous winners include I.M. Pei in 2014, Tadao Ando in 2005, Renzo Piano in 2002, and Fumihiko Maki in 1993.

The other UIA Prizes were awarded as follows:

The Auguste Perret Prize for Applied Technology in Architecture goes to Nikolay Shumakov (Russia), nominated by the UIA’s Russian Member Section.

The Jean Tschumi Prize for Architectural Criticism or Architectural Education is attributed to Professor Ashraf M Salama (Egypt), nominated by the UIA’s Egyptian Member Section.

The Robert Matthew Prize for the Improvement of the Quality of Human Settlements goes to South African Carin Smuts, who was nominated by the UIA’s French Section.

The Vassilis Sgoutas Prize, recognising inventive, implemented architectural solutions for reducing poverty and indigence, was awarded to Vietnam’s Hoang Thuc Hao, who was nominated by the UIA’s Vietnamese Section.

The jury received 46 nominations from its member sections. The winners will be presented with their medals at an awards ceremony on 6 September 2017, bringing a close to the 25th UIA World Congress in Seoul, South Korea.