Japanese Architecture

Mira Locher is an architect and professor who works in the U.S. and Japan. She studied at Smith College before receiving her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After working for Team Zoo Atelier Mobile in Japan for seven years, she set up an architectural practice in the U.S. with Takayuki Murakami. Mira Locher is Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba (Canada). She is the author of Super Potato Design, Zen Gardens and Zen Garden Design.

Ben Simmons grew up in Columbus, Georgia. He studied photography and psychology at SUNY in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York, before completing a Master of Fine Arts in photography and art history at the University of Florida. Simmons taught photography at Penland School of Crafts in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina before relocating to Japan. Ben Simmons Photography is based on the Miura Peninsula seacoast at Sagami Bay, just south of Tokyo. Ben specializes in photo essays and book projects. Recent books include Tokyo Desire, Hong Kong: The City of Dreams, The Little Book of Tokyo, Platinum Images of Thai Buddhism, Tokyo Megacity, and Kyoto: City of Zen.

Kengo Kuma was born in Kanagawa, Japan, and completed a major in architecture at the University of Tokyo. Kengo Kuma & Associates, his own studio, was established in 1990. He also worked as a visiting professor on the faculty of environmental information at Keio University. In 1997 he won the prestigious Architectural Institute of Japan Award for his work on "recovering the tradition of Japanese buildings" and reinterpreting it for the 21st century. In 2008, Kuma earned his Ph.D. from Keio University, and he is currently a professor on the faculty of science and technology there, in the department of system design engineering.