Satoru IGARASHI

Change is inevitable but how we adapt to the change defines the success of each generation. Today, the access and the speed in which information is disseminated is exponentially greater than any other time in the past and it’s still gaining speed. Coupled with the existential threat we face with climate change, the future generation will have to think and act differently than the present. They will, thus, need to be taught differently.

The unique program will focus on three main pillars; sustainability, diversity inclusion and culture of making. And this school will harmoniously exist in the community, physically, culturally and emotionally. This alternative public school program designed for Willamette High School will aim to prepare not only the future leaders but the entire community it serves for the unknown and less predictable future we face.

Through the pandemic that started in 2020, the notion and a definition of a work office may have shifted for good. The question was posited how much of what we learned during the pandemic, of how to operate an office, will remain long after we are through with the pandemic. What is the healthy, effective and productive relationship and expectation of employers and employees, what will become the cultural norm of balance between in-person and remote work, and how do we incentivize the employees to come work in the office if the company values such interaction? Access, outdoor space, technology, amenities, flexibility and variety of office spaces were explored.

Sitting on a unique “L” shaped footprint, the three story Health Center caters to patients for both physical and mental illness. In accordance with the concept of biophilia, abundance of natural elements, real and mimicked, are integrated to foster the recovery and general well being of the patients and staff alike. The building sits where SE Portland industrial area and the residential section converge. The building as the transition between the two distinct neighborhood, utilizes its dichotomy to fully integrate to the environment harmoniously. The scale, material and texture all play off of that dichotomy.

This project tackles the issue of increasing need for affordable housing and sustainability consciousness. The 200 unit modular housing complex seamlessly integrates natural elements and environment to harmonious sits within the surrounding neighborhood. The mass timber structure provides framework for flexible modular housing units. It also supports roof structure that integrates infrastructures for energy/resource capture. Centrally located Plaza and community center provides crucial social interaction for a robust community.

*a team project:

Matthew Stoll, Josymar Rodriguez, Katherine Martin

A sudden emergence of pandemic in 2020 caught the whole world off guard. It touched the lives of global population and its aftershock will likely to remain in our consciousness for generations.

Pandemic, unfortunately, is an inevitable occurrence in life on earth. As we witnessed, our actions, prepared and well-informed, can positively contribute greatly to such harrowing outcomes.

This memorial proposal is to commemorate the incident, respect those who passed and provide an opportunity for a moment of reflection. It is imperative we take learning from this experience, but just as equally important if we see another pandemic in our life time, is to pass on our learning to the future generations.

Huge spiked curves in reported cases contributed to many unnecessary deaths by over burdening those ill-prepared medical infrastructures. Broken monument represents a broken curve, what we must attempt to do. Various trees in varying states of foliage represents cyclical nature of a pandemics.

The project was initially designed with play ground structure in mind. Although each distinct piece can stand on its own, true strength comes from combination of the three, playing off the spatial relationship between each other. Each piece is designed with an engagement from outside as well as from its interior, and has an ability to stand on any of its flat surfaces, rendering countless combination and characteristics of the group as a whole. The flexibility and its modularity enables it to be utilized in multiple parks with multiple mood and personalities, creating countless combination of engagement experiences.

The assignment was to create a Folly, set on a gently sloped wooded landscape. The theme I gave myself was WOOD. The piece symbolizes many of the positive attributes that trees and wood provide for us: protection, dance of light and shadow, a sense of awe. The folly celebrates them as it harmoniously melts into its surrounding.

As an interior architectural design project, I’ve taken an existing library reading room and converted it into a Meditation Lounge. By utilizing light, both natural and artificial, as a vehicle to define spatial order, I’ve carved and built physical structures to maximized the effect of light to create a variety of moods and experiences at various times of the day.

Using paper as a medium, I created a structure that offers a dynamic relationship between light and shadow while retaining a meaningful relationship between prospect and refuge. A single sheet of paper, scored, sliced and folded was used to create this design.

Taking a precedent, in my case was the Goetz art gallery designed by Herzog & De Meuron, and extract an essence about the building design and express it through a plaster model.

Considering the relationship between prospect and refuge, I created a structure with wood that plays to its strength.

As a design proposal for the Eugene public library in the Whiteaker area in Eugene Oregon, openness and accessibility were highly considered for the context of this neighborhood.

For the Seminar with graphic experimentation of stretching the concept of perspective by utilizing an existing art work. The assignment was to create an illusion of perspective volume through a systematic vehicle of graphic erasure, meaning adding a sense of space by erasing flat elements.

This model manifests an experiential perception of a place in a single glance through semi-flattened dimensionality with layers of forced perspective.