MOSAKI : Masaki Onishi
Editor / Architect

Born in 1977 in the Osaka metropolitan area. In 2001, graduated from the Department of Architecture, College of Science and Technology, Nihon University. In 2003, completed a master’s course in Architecture, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Nihon University. After working for Ushida Findlay Architects (UK) in 2003-2004, co-founded MOSAKI. At MOSAKI, Onishi handled editing and design. From 2004 to 2007, he was a tutor in Nihon University’s Department of Architecture. Since 2007, Onishi has served as a committee member in the NU Architecture Forum of Nihon University’s Architecture Department. From 2007 to 2009, he was a member of the Editorial Committee of the Architectural Institute of Japan.

MOSAKI : Motoko Tanaka
Writer / Creative facilitator

Born in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1975. In 1999, chaired the Aoyama Dōjunkai Apartment Building reclamation project DO+. Co-founded MOSAKI in 2004. Primarily involved in writing and direction. In 2007-2008, acted as creative facilitator at co-lab. Since 2009, Tanaka has been a member of the Cultural Affairs Commission of the Architectural Institute of Japan. Among the serializations of Tanaka’s work has been MOSAKI’s Event Pilgrimage (2005-2008: Nikkei Architecture magazine) and Experimental Residential Architecture from the Viewpoint of Wives and Daughters (Mrs. magazine, Bunka Publishing Bureau).

Makoto Tanida
Associate Professor, PhD., Engineering, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Science and Technology, Meijō University

Born in Nagoya, 1971. Graduated from the Department of Architecture, Meijō University in 1995. In 1997, Tanida completed the Master´s course of the Graduate School of Nagoya University, and entered Mitsuru Senda + (Incorporated) Environment Design Institute. In 2003, he withdrew from the doctorate course of the Graduate School of Nagoya University due to the expiration of the term. In 2008, Tanida was an overseas researcher at University of East London. He has participated proactively in initiatives in many interdisciplinary genres, not only architecture: Aichi Arts Downtown Revitalization Project (2007), Tokyo Designers Week (2007), Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art´s Open Call for Art Project Ideas (2009) and Nagoya Design Week (2009, 2010). Tanida, whose concern is on the mutual relationship between human beings and human-built environments, cherishes the moments spent with his students as well as with his family.

Osamu Ikeda
Director, BankART 1929, PH Studio

Born in Osaka, 1957. Graduated from B Seminar School and established PH Studio, an art and architecture team whose work focuses on the theme of city habitation. This group carries out a wide range of activities, including exhibitions, art projects and architectural planning. Their representative work, The Ship Rides on the Mountain project, was conducted in a town that was to be submerged under the lake of a dam in Hiroshima. Ikeda has held coordinating positions for many years, for instance as director of some Hillside Galleries in the Daikanyama neighborhood of Tokyo (1986-1991), and as a member of the planning committee for Bosch Corporation’s head office in Japan, located in Shibuya, in Tokyo (1992-1994). In addition to holding the position of part-time lecturer at Nagoya University of Arts since 1994, he speaks at many universities and in many cities. He has participated in the establishment and planning management of BankART since 2004. In 2006, Ikeda acted as a committee member of a research facility of the Agency for Cultural Affairs that promotes the preservation and use of cultural monuments. Since 2006, he has been a member of the external assessment committee that evaluates the designated managers of the cultural assets facilities in Yokohama City. Ikeda has received the Art Encouragement Prize for Freshman of Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. His work also includes the editing of many publications of BankART projects as well as the compilation of PH Studio’s activities in PH Studio 1984-1992.

Isamu Muto
N-mark

Graduated from Nagoya University of Arts in 1993. After completing the CCA Kitakyushu Research Program Artist Course, managed the art spaces N-mark and KIGUTSU. In 1999, he participated in the experimental artport '99-given, which explored the usage of the warehouses located at the Port of Nagoya. In 2001, he planned @port, a project designed to expand the artistic activity of the Port of Nagoya into the regional community. Beginning with N-mark’s plan, Open Meeting, in 2000, which aimed to hold public meetings anywhere across Japan, in 2003, Muto initiated Meeting Caravan, which cut across the entire country, from Hokkaido to Okinawa. In 2004, Muto implemented the traveling art project Café Line. In 2004-05, he acted as an executive committee member of Asahi Art Festival 2005. In 2005, with art archives as its primary focus, Muto organized AAN, and in 2006, he implemented SHOWCASE, which gathered 55 art groups from around the country at the annex of the art space Yokohama ZAIM. In 2009, he planned Meikō Museum Town, using shops, empty lots and ship berths as venues. In 2010, after graduating from IAMAS , as the Secretariat of the Aichi Triennale 2010 Supporters Club, he planned and has been in charge of Kayobi Katsudo [Take Action Tuesdays], which gives citizens an opportunity to take the initiative in supporting the project.

Gala Fernández
Designer

Gala Fernández was born in Madrid in 1969.
She studied art and design at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid and industrial design at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan.
She’s been teaching, coordinating and directing courses at the Istituto Europeo de Design in Madrid since 1995 until now. She worked for Fabrica, the Benetton Group communication research centre, coordinating the design department with Jaime Hayón from 2000 to 2004.During that period she was the head of “Fabrica Features” (Fabrica’s commercial and cultural spaces) in Bologna and Lisbone.
She runs her own studio GalaFM in Madrid working within a range of multidisciplinary activities in the fields of art and design, from curatorship to production, distribution and a number of varied services such as interior and product design, garphic design and publishing, owns La permanente design gallery, she coordinates the European Design Labs at the IED in Madrid and is the responsible of the Boisbuchet Summer Master Programme, France.

Keisuke Kitagawa
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology

Born on March 26, 1974 to parents who owned a Japanese confectionary business. Kitagawa’s specialties include architectural planning and design, contemporary architecture, city planning, spatial information theory, subculture theory and “Nagoya” theory. Graduated from the Faculty of Engineering of the National Nagoya Institute of Technology in 1996. In 1999, worked at Reiser + Umemoto and others. In 2001, upon completing the doctoral course at the Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Kitagawa received a PhD in Engineering. After moving through the positions of assistant, lecturer and assistant professor at the same university, Kitagawa is currently an associate professor at the Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, as well as the Chief of NIT Radio. Treatises include, Special expression, elements and composition of architecture and the city on the space/images of propaganda films in the 20th century and Wagashi [Japanese sweets] and Architecture. Published reports include, Manga Coffeeshop White Paper: The Allowance of One-mat Refuge for One Person Being a Matter of Grave Concern that has Priority Over Any Social Problems (Architectural Institute of Japan, Journal of Architecture and Building Science (JABS), April, 2008) and Alternative Handbook of Environmental Design (JABS, December, 2009). Literary works include, Hypersurface Design and Technology (Shōkokusha, 2005). Awards include the TŌKAI Prize of the Architectural Institute of Japan and The Nagoya City Urban Design Prize.

Ichiro Higashiizumi
Designer / Creative Director

Born in Tokyo and with an education in engineering, Ichiro Higashiizumi engaged in various manual labor jobs before he ultimately became a graphic designer. Since then, he has worked on films, engaged in product design, headed web-based projects and worked in space designs, among other creative projects.
As a member of the Board of Directors of the Sensorium project, Higashiizumi conducted an experimental installation project, where he utilized internet technology at multiple overseas locations. He has also done concept design for an exhibit at the Japan Science Museum and performed conceptual work for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. With the philosophy of “creating something that no one else has ever created before”, he has continued to work on everything from street- and music-rooted graphic design to total concept design. He likes things that are far away and high places.

Masumi Ando
Senior Planning Director, Solution Planning Division, DENTSU INC. CHUBU

Masumi Ando works for Dentsu as a marketing strategist, communication designer and concept planner in space design, including exhibition and urban design. As the first representative of Dentsu’s Moscow office, he has experienced the extraordinary social transformation of the U.S.S.R. into Russia. Ando also worked as a concept planner for World Design Exposition Nagoya in 1989.

MILE : Kozo Shimoyama
Designer

MILE
MILE is the design project of sound engineer Bandai Matsuo, software engineer Kentarō Kai and interior designer Kozo Shimoyama. As in the proverb, “three heads produce a wisdom equal to Manjusri bodhisattva,” having three participants can produce tremendous insights. MILE expands the field of design activity by utilizing the expertise of each member. The project uses humorous stories to design so that it weaves people, things and spaces together in comfort. At the 2009 Milano Salone, MILE was chosen by the editors of Elle Décor’s 25 international magazines as one of 24 young groups to watch.
Shimoyama Kozo
Born in 1977 in Okayama Prefecture. Graduate of University of Tsukuba, both College of Engineering Sciences and Architectural Design. A part –time lecturer of Kyoto University of Art & Design.

Maria Constanza Nuñez (GRUBA)
Architect / Product Designer

Maria Constanza Nuñez is an architect. She earned her degree at the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism (Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo, FADU) of Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) in 2001. She was a member of the school faculty and taught Architecture for four years. In 1997 she won the first prize in the “Talleres FADU 1997”(FADU Workshop 1997) contest. In 2005 she traveled to Holland to pursue post graduate studies on Informal Population Settlements, as part of a program sponsored by the Academy of Amsterdam, Universidad de Buenos Aires and the Avellaneda Town Hall. In 2006 she enrolled in the postgraduate program “Architecture and Technology” at Universidad Toprcuato Di Tella. She has worked as a free-lance professional since 1999, providing services to private clients. In2006 Maria Constanza Nuñez created GRUBA, a cross-disciplinary group which is currently taking part of the lncuBA program at the Buenos Aires Design Center (Centro Metropolitano de Diseño).
In 2007 GRUBA started providing sustainable architecture services to remarkable companies and institutions such as the Environmental Protection Agency of the City of Buenos Aires and the Sustainable Development Province Authority (Organismo Provincial de Desarrollo Sostenible, OPDS) of the Province of Buenos Aires.
Some of GRUBA’s projects were exhibited at national and international trade and featured in specialize publications, where they were widely praised.
In 2008 GRUBA won the prize“rational use of energy” in Casa Foa.
In2010 GRUBA was selected to exhibit their products at DMY in Berlin International Festival.
Won first prize in the book “Influencias” competition for their seat “S.O.S de Barrio”
The line “cartonera” was selected as one of the top 25 sustainable design projects of the year and published in the book “Sustainable Design from Argentine”.
She was a speaker at very important seminars such as the International Seminar of Environmental Protection (Seminario Internacional de Medioambiente),organized by the Central Association of Argentine Architects (Sociedad Central de Arqutitectos), the Design Seminar sponsored by Dara and Universidad de Palermo and Pecha Kucha Nights.

Yoshiyuki Wada
Professor, Nagoya University of Arts School of Design

Born in Nagoya City. Graduated from Nagoya University of Arts, in what is now the Industrial Design Course, Product and Space Block, Department of Design. After serving as a tutor there, Wada studied at the Industrial Design Department of the Royal College of Art. Upon returning to Japan, he was given the post of assistant teacher, and is now a professor in the Design Department of Nagoya University of Arts, as well as a professor in the University’s graduate school, postgraduate course. Wada holds design lectures and workshops internationally, in countries such as Germany, Singapore, South Korea and China.