wHY Architecture
Newsweek magazine article on contemporary architecture noted wHY Architecture as one of the innovative architectural practices for the new generation. Their philosophy of the integration of creative thinking with timeless design, along with their focus on intelligent and high-quality construction, have gained them a reputation for their architectural works and projects for the arts and culture as well as residences all over the country.
wHY Architecture was founded in 2003 by its two partners, Yo-ichiro Hakomori and Kulapat Yantrasast. Yo-ichiro received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his Doctorate from the University of Tokyo. Kulapat, a native of Thailand, received his Bachelor of Architecture degree in Thailand and his Master of Architecture degree and Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo. While as graduate students at the University of Tokyo, they realized that they shared the same fundamental principles and goals of architecture which led to their collaboration on several design competitions and research projects.
After completing their degrees, they each worked for
world-renowned architects on a variety of different projects prior to forming wHY Architecture. Yo-ichiro worked with the late Frank Israel and Arthur Erickson. Kulapat worked as a close associate and project architect for the Pritzker Prize laureate architect Tadao Ando on several major museums and large institutional projects in the United States and around the world, including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, the ARMANI/TEATRO for Giorgio Armani in Milan, Italy, the Foundation Francois Pinault for Contemporary Art in Paris, France, the Calder Museum project in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Both have continued to lecture and teach at universities around the country and worldwide, Kulapat has also served on the Artist Committee for American for the Arts, the nation's oldest organization for the support of art in society.
Their works include many innovative architectural designs for people, the arts and the environments. The Grand Rapids Art Museum is the first new art museum in the world to receive the LEED certification. wHY Architecture has been working on many new gallery designs for the Art Institute of Chicago as well as the renovation and expansion of the historic Venice Jail into the new Social and Public Art Resource Center in Venice, California. Current projects also include the environmentally sustainable Art Bridge, at the Great Wall of Los Angeles River, made mostly from the trash salvaged from the river itself as well as many residential and commercial projects. wHY Architecture has also maintained architectural collaboration with Tadao Ando on significant museums and residential projects in the US.
As a workshop for creativity in design and construction, wHY Architecture continues their teamwork approach on every one of their projects and strives for new ideas and strategies in architecture executed with the highest degree of quality and intelligence in the construction.
