Nanako Umemoto
Design Critic in Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Nanako Umemoto is a Principal and co-founder of Reiser + Umemoto, an internationally recognized multidisciplinary design firm, which has built projects at a wide range of scales: from furniture design, to residential and commercial structures, up to the scale of landscape, urban design, and infrastructure. Nanako Umemoto, and partner Jesse Reiser, published the Atlas of Novel Tectonics, in 2006, and recently released the Japanese edition in 2008. Their office tower O-14 is currently under construction in Dubai, and is scheduled to be completed in early 2010. Reiser + Umemoto`s work has been extensively published, appearing in, among others, Assemblage, A+U, The New York Times, Newsweek, Architecture, Architectural Record, Praxis, Harvard Design Magazine, Arquitectura Viva, Metropolis, and Abitare, and was recently featured on the Discovery Channel in 2008 - their work has been also exhibited widely, participating in shows in Amsterdam, Beijing, Bregenz, Kyoto, London, New York, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Venice, and Vienna. The firm was awarded the Chrysler Award for Excellence in Design in 1999, and in 2000 the Academy Award in Architecture by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Nanako received her Bachelor of Architecture from Cooper Union in New York in 1983, following studies at the School of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture at the Osaka University of Art. Prior to joining the GSD, Nanako has previously taught at various schools in the US and Asia, including Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, Hong Kong University, Kyoto University, and the Cooper Union, and she has lectured at various educational and cultural institutions throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. In May of 2008, Nanako Umemoto and Jesse Reiser both received the Presidential Citation from President George Campbell of the Cooper Union for outstanding practical and theoretical contributions to the field of Architecture.