Aki Ishida is the principal of Aki Ishida Architect PLLC and associate professor of architecture at Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design. She is also a Fellow of the University’s Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT), where she collaborates with engineers and artists. She received her M.S. in advanced architectural design from Columbia University and B. Arch. from the University of Minnesota. Prior to founding her own architecture firm, she worked at James Carpenter Design Associates, I.M. Pei Architect, and Rafael Vinoly Architects. She is a licensed architect in the states of New York and a LEED accredited professional. Prior to Virginia Tech, Aki taught design studios at Rhode Island School of Design, The Pratt Institute, Parsons The New School of Design, and Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea. Every summer since 2009, she has taught architecture courses in Columbia University's Summer Program for High School Students. Aki’s work is a synthesis of spatial uses of light and her interest in active public engagement of space. Interactive audio-visual installation Lantern Field, a project she led at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery in Washington, DC, won a 2013 Architectural Lighting Design Award. Her work has been supported by grants from Japan Foundation New York, the Graduate Kinne Traveling Fellowship from Columbia University, Stewardson Keefe LeBrun Travel Grant from the AIA New York Chapter, and fellowships from MacDowell and the Baer Art Center. She has served twice as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts Art Works grants. Most recently, she was recognized nationally as one of 25 Most Admired Educators for 2016 by DesignIntelligence and a recipient the ACSA/AIAS New Faculty Teaching Award in 2017.
Aki Ishida
Studios
Heyward
Aki Ishida worked in the Heyward studio.
The Lodge Annex, a wing on the west side of the men’s dormitory (The Lodge), was completed in 1926. Initially intended as an apartment for a caretaker, the space was soon repurposed as a live-in studio for writers. In recognition of a major endowment gift from the DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Foundation, Lodge Annex was…