In Memoriam: Gyo Obata, FAIA
Gyo Obata, FAIA, a world-renowned architect and a co-founder of HOK passed away on March 8, 2022. He was 99. The son of artists who emigrated from Japan to the U.S., Gyo Obata was born in San Francisco, CA and grew up in an artistic household. At the age of 18 he enrolled in the architecture program at the University of California, Berkley but in his freshman year Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and in the wave of anti-Japanese hysteria that swept the country, his parents were removed to an internment camp. However, his father was able to arrange permission for young Gyo to leave the west coast and transfer to Washington University in St. Louis, MO; one of the only universities in the country that would accept Japanese-American students at the time. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Washington University and then continued his study under Eliel Saarinen …
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