AIA Japan - Evening Lecture with Kengo Kuma: Back to Nature

When: Thursday 6 November 2025 @ 05:00 (Eastern US Time)/ 19:00 (Tokyo time)
Where: TBC near Ikebukuro Station/ ONLINE

Description

AIA Japan is honored to collaborate with Kengo Kuma & Associates to present a special lecture, “Back to Nature,” by Kengo Kuma, one of Japan’s most internationally acclaimed architects. The event will take place near Ikebukuro Station at an exclusive, architecturally significant cultural property, offering a fitting setting for this dialogue between architecture and nature. Final venue details will be announced shortly. Kuma-san will reflect on the ways architecture can deepen our connection to nature and the spaces we inhabit.

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When: Monday 10 November 2025 @ 05:00 (Eastern US time)/ 18:00 (Taipei Time)
Where: Online CES: Estimated 2 LU/HSW for AIA Members

Speaker

Lydia Kallipoliti, Associate Professor & Director of MSAAD Program, Columbia University GSAPP, New York

Moderator

Tzen-ying Ling, Professor, Columbia University GSAPP

Event Description

In an era where global architectural education faces the challenges of AI integration, sustainability, and cross-disciplinary innovation, the role of education extends beyond knowledge transfer—it becomes a catalyst for reform and transformation.

This lecture, delivered by Prof. Lydia Kallipoliti of Columbia GSAPP, explores paradigm shifts in architectural thought through the lens of ecological design histories. Drawing from her recent publication, Histories of Ecological Design: An Unfinished Cyclopedia, Prof. Kallipoliti examines the intertwined evolution of design, technology, and environmental systems, addressing how architecture can mediate between ecological intelligence, material reuse, and socio-political engagement.

The lecture will be moderated by Prof. Tzen-Ying Ling. Participants will gain insight into contemporary design pedagogy and research directions at Columbia GSAPP, while also engaging in broader discussions on how AI, sustainability, and ecological thinking are redefining architectural practice and education.

AIA Japan - Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan Revisited: Traditional Japanese Culture as a Means to Modern American Architecture

When: Thursday 27 November 2025 @ 04:30 (Eastern US Time)/ 18:30 (Tokyo time)
Where: Arper Showroom, Tokyo/ ONLINE

Speaker

Kevin Nute, Professor of Architecture, University of Hawai’i, Manoa

Description

Although it has long been accepted that America’s most famous architect was influenced by Japanese culture, the nature of Frank Lloyd Wright’s debt to Japan has remained unclear. Kevin Nute argues that Japan had a more profound impact on Wright’s approach to design and in particular his notion of the organic than has previously been acknowledged. It suggests that the influence of Ernest Fenollosa (1853–1908), the leading American authority on Japanese art at the turn of the 20th century, who also happened to be the cousin of Wright’s first employer in Chicago, the Shingle Style architect Joseph Silsbee (1848–1913), was pivotal in bringing together what would become Wright’s twin passions of Japanese art and the organic whole.