STUDIO
AKIHISA HIRATA
Harakado, Tokyo. 2024. photo by Kenya Chiba
Studio Details
Location
Tokyo, Japan
Date
13 July-24 July, 2026
Team Leader
Akihisa Hirata (Founder, akihisa hirata architecture office)
Yuko Tonogi (Managing Director, akihisa hirata architecture office)
Yuka Hanawa (Senior Architect, akihisa hirata architecture office)
Akane Takahashi (Senior Architect, akihisa hirata architecture office)
Program
Learning and Commerce Complex
Field Trips and Site Visits
Harajuku district
HARAKADO (Tokyu Plaza Harajuku)
akihisa hirata architecture office
Project
Reverberation
Cities are constantly being renewed.
Yet much of this renewal remains superficial, leaving the diverse layers dormant within the city, untangled and submerged.
Topography, water, memory, infrastructure, light, sound.
These sink into the city’s cross-section, existing as invisible reverberation.
We envision an architecture that reads these diverse layers existing as invisible reverberation, intertwines them, and creates new relationships.
The site is the Harajuku area, where we will design a mixed-use building for commerce and learning to intersect.
We will endeavor to develop a place that penetrates the city’s various layers and unfolds them in cross-section, encountering diverse reverberation.
Akihisa Hirata was born in Osaka in 1971. Completed MA from Kyoto University in 1997. Received MA from the Graduate School of Engineering and Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University in 1997. After working for Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects, established his own office, akihisa hirata architecture office in 2005. Assigned to Kyoto University since 2015. Currently a professor at Kyoto University.
Major works including Masuya (2006), sarugaku (2008), Bloomberg Pavilion (2011), Art Museum & Library, Ota (2017), Tree-ness House (2017), Overlap House (2018), Center of Yatsushiro Folk Performing Arts (2021), HARAKADO (2024).
Guest lecturer at Bauhaus Dessau, Germany, Harvard GSD, USA and The Architecture Foundation, UK. Solo exhibitions in Tokyo, London, Belgium, and A Japanese Constellation: Toyo Ito, SANAA, and Beyond (MoMA, 2016), Milan Design Week and Art Basel.
Internships and Opportunities
Young designers and students accepted to join akihisa hirata architecture office at Venice Studio may be considered for available internship or job opportunities at akihisa hirata architecture office. Selection of candidates is at the sole discretion of the team leaders and akihisa hirata architecture office. Places are not guaranteed.