Registered Architect, U.S.A., Japan

Chairman of the Board of Directors, T-Life Environmental Lab Co. Ltd.

Principal Architect, T-Life Architecture

 

George Kunihiro, FAIA leads the operation of T-Life Architecture, a division of T-Life Environmental Lab, Co. Ltd.

 

George received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley in 1974 and a Master of Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1976.

 

George has over 37 years of experience in architecture.  He had a successful international architectural practice in the U.S. for 17 years, based in Los Angeles and New York. Since 1997, he headed George Kunihiro Architect & Associates, a practice based in Tokyo, Japan.

In 2013, George joined Junko Kato to form a unique practice, T-Life Environmental Lab, Co. Ltd., a firm specializing in total life-style design from personal health, culinary and living environment, architecture, interior design and urban planning.

 

As an academic, George is a specialist in contemporary Asian architecture and urban environment. He has lead research in Indonesia, Japan, China, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Macao, Nepal and Turkey.  He has built a number of projects in the USA and in Japan, addressing cultural expression in the contemporary global society. As an Asian-American with global viewpoint, travelling continuously in search of personal identity, he has developed a view that architects must participate actively in society providing unique creative skills and knowledge to realize a comfortable and sustainable built environment.

 

“Floating Teahouse” exhibited in New York is an example of his pursuit of bi-cultural background. “Eastside Penthouse” completed in the New York’s Upper Eastside, created a unique mix of the traditional Japanese Inn and the contemporary New York urban lifestyle. His many commercial and residential projects have been highly acclaimed by the critics.

 

In 1992, George’s work was selected in the 11th Annual Space Design Review, and received the Japan Commercial Environmental Design Award in 1993.  In 2008, “2@5”, a residence in Tokyo, was selected in the JIA Architect of the Year Annual.

 

As a Vice Chairman of the modern Asian Architecture Network, mAAN, George has been involved in identification and revitalization of the 20th Century Cultural heritage in Asia.

Besides his many residential and commercial works, in the mAAN, George completed several research projects including the Medan City Center Revitalization Study, Shanghai Industrial Revitalization Workshop, Istanbul Factory Revitalization Study and the Sri Lanka Tsunami Reconstruction Survey.

 

George is a professor of architecture at the Kokushikan University, Tokyo, Japan, and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing.  He has also held a teaching position as a visiting critic and assistant professor at Harvard University, Yale University and Columbia University in the United States and Methodius University in Macedonia. 

 

George is the Immediate President of the ARCASIA (Architects Regional Council Asia), an organization made up of the Presidents of the national institutes of architects of the 18 Asian countries. George, currently serve as the International Director of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

 

In 2009, George was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects.

 

George has been on several international architecture design juries and lectures widely in international conferences.

 

Selected Work:

Xixiang Two River Four Shores Development

Weekend House in Kamakura MM

D Residence (2@5)

E Residence (Field of Dreams)