Shohei Shigematsu born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan in 1973. In 1996 graduated from the Department of Architecture at Kyushu University. Studying at the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam. He became an associate in 2004, joined OMA in 1998 and became a partner in 2008.
Sho is responsible for delivering several projects across North America, including Milstein Hall, an extension to the College of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University; a new museum for the Musée national des Beaux-arts du Québec; the Faena Forum, a multi-purpose venue in Miami Beach; the renovation and reimagination of Sotheby’s Headquarters in New York; the Audrey Irmas Pavilion, a new event and gathering space extension for the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles; and a holistic campus renovation and a new building for the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York. Sho’s cultural buildings currently in progress include a museum expansion for the New Museum in New York City and a new arts centre with a theatre and concert hall for the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Expanding upon his built work for museums and cultural institutions, Sho engages the art world through various facets, from collaborations with artists such as Cai Guo-Qiang and Marina Abramović to structures and strategies integrating landscape and resiliency including an underwater art park and distinct structure for the ReefLine in Miami Beach and a mushroom pavilion in Mexico.
Sho’s works in the fashion industry span typologies and scales, from redefined retail spaces as mediums for branding to exploration of exhibitions and scenographies as narrative mediums. In Japan, Sho led the design and successful completion of the Coach flagship in Tokyo and is currently overseeing Harajuku Quest, a cultural and commercial platform connecting Omotesando and Harajuku. Sho has worked with fashion brands and houses, as well as museums, on major exhibition designs—Louis Vuitton Visionary Journeys in Bangkok; Dior retrospectives in Denver, Dallas, and Tokyo; Prada “Waist Down” in Tokyo, Seoul, New York, and Los Angeles; and Manus x Machina at the Met Costume Institute.
Sho has built several innovative workspaces and mixed-use buildings, including the China Central TelevisionHeadquarters in Beijing (2012), the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Headquarters (2013), Tenjin Business Center in Fukuoka, Japan (2021), and most recently, the Toranomon Hills Station Tower for Mori Building Co, Ltd. In Tokyo(2023). His innovation centre design for the Chicago Center for Education & Research for Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) and the University of Illinois System is currently underway.
Sho has lectured at TED and Wired Japan conferences, and universities throughout the world. He has been a visiting professor at Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP), Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), and Columbia University GSAPP. He has been a professor at Kyushu University of Human Environment Studies and Director of BeCAT (Built Environment Center with Art & Technology) since 2021.
