Architect profiles
RICHARD HENMI
(1924-2020)
“I can’t speak for the people who are not Japanese American, but I think we learned a lot. I think the people you deal with, work with, learn with, study with treat you pretty much the same way you treat them...”
-Richard Henmi
Richard Henmi, a second-generation Japanese American from Fresno, California, was interned at Fresno Assembly Center (CA) during the Japanese Incarceration of World War II. After three months of incarceration at Fresno, Henmi fled the camp in search of academic opportunity. Henmi ultimately avoided the incarceration at Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas, where his family traveled to after their time at the Fresno Assembly Center, and eventually landed at Washington University in St. Louis. Initially inspired by his childhood love of model airplanes, Henmi enrolled at WUSTL to become an aeronautical engineer.
Despite this attraction to engineering, Henmi graduated as an architect and established a successful career as a partner at Schwarz and Van Hoefen, one of the oldest architecture firms in the city of St. Louis. While Henmi played a central role in the design and re-design of high-profile hotels, affordable housing complexes, and retail and department store structures throughout St. Louis, one of his most beloved—and controversial—mid-century modern buildings remains Council Plaza’s Flying Saucer Building.
Photograph of Richard Henmi. Image courtesy of Rod Henmi.
GYO OBATA
(1923-2022)
“You know, prejudice and fear are really just some of the worst things that could happen to human beings…to stop their growth and so forth.”
- Gyo Obata
Gyo Obata, a second-generation Japanese American from San Francisco, California, graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Architecture. As the son of Chiura and Haruko Obata, artists of the sumi-e (ink) painting and ikebana (floral arrangement) traditions, Obata contributed to a lineage of artistry. Unlike the rest of his family, incarcerees at Tanforan Assembly Center (CA) and Topaz Relocation Center (UT), due to his transfer to WUSTL from the University of California-Berkeley at the beginning of World War II, Obata avoided internment.
Following graduation from WUSTL, Obata earned a master’s degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, mentoring under Eliel Saarinen, father of Gateway Arch architect Eero Saarinen. Later, Obata founded the now world-renowned firm Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum. While Obata remains highly regarded for designing museums, airports, and libraries, like the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., all of his designs are grounded in their intention to create a sense of harmony with their surrounding, natural environments.
Photograph of HOK founder Gyo Obata with a model of the Priory Chapel at Saint Louis Abbey. Image courtesy of Discover Nikkei.
George Matsumoto
(1923-2016)
“I don’t know, there’s a lot of things that we had to go through, the United States had to go through, to get to the point where we are today. But it’s all part of growing up, the whole country.”
- George Matsumoto
George Matsumoto, a second-generation Japanese American from San Francisco, California, was interned at Poston Relocation Center in Arizona. Like many other Japanese American students, Matsumoto’s education was disrupted by WWII. Given that he was incarcerated during his final semester at the University of California, Berkeley, he completed his degree in Architecture at WUSTL. Like Gyo Obata, Matsumoto earned a master’s degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and mentored under architect Eliel Saarinen.
Despite his roles at architecture firms such as Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Saarinen and Swanson, Matsumoto spent the majority of his career teaching at the University of Oklahoma, North Carolina State University, and the University of California, Berkeley. In these positions, Matsumoto won over thirty awards for his residential designs—which often included the characteristics of a flat roof, terrazzo floors, and natural woods for walls and ceilings—and displayed his work in the U.S. Pavilion at the 1958 World’s Fair. In addition to his collaborations with Gyo Obata, Matsumoto is most regarded for his designs of residential spaces, like university housing structures and vacation homes, across North Carolina.
Photograph of George Matsumoto, North Carolina State College professor of Architecture. Image courtesy of Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries.
FRED TOGUCHI
(1922-1982)
“[We] must be concerned with…environmental design. [W]hat we do here on our specific problem in a particular plot affects everything around it. Not just the position of our building in relation to existing situations, but also [how] it will affect future situations.”
- Fred Toguchi
Fred Toguchi, a second-generation Japanese American from Alameda, California, was interned at Tanforan Assembly Center (CA) and Topaz Relocation Center (UT). Like family member Richard Henmi, Toguchi fled the incarceration after four months and continued his education—which he began at the University of California, Berkeley—at WUSTL. Although he was interned at the same locations as the Obata family, it is unclear whether he knew of Gyo Obata prior to attending WUSTL.
After graduating, Toguchi worked on noteworthy projects like the Mississippi Riverfront in St. Louis. In 1962, Toguchi founded Fred Toguchi Associates in Cleveland, Ohio and was recognized for his attention to energy efficiency and “Nature’s quiet wisdom.” Throughout his career, which was cut short by his tragic death in a car accident, Toguchi designed schools, office buildings, arts centers, churches, homes, airports, and libraries. As a result of his focus on functionality within these small and large-scale projects—such as within the Burke Lakefront Airport Terminal—Toguchi helped to shape present-day Cleveland and its environment.
Photograph of Fred Toguchi. Image courtesy of Cleveland Arts Prize Archive.
