MORRIS SATO STUDIO - PROFILE
ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY
ARCHITECTURE
London born —Irish & US national—Michael Morris and the late —Tokyo, Japan native— Yoshiko Sato both trained in the fine arts prior to studying architecture at The Cooper Union . After graduating in 1989, the pair began teaching at architecture and fine art colleges, completed their professional training and their post-graduate studies (in Ireland and at Harvard respectively), and concurrently engaged in research, competitions, exhibitions, and installations. In 1996 the husband-and-wife opened their transdisciplinary architecture firm in New York City.
PUBLIC ART
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY
ARCHITECTURE
Morris Sato Studio work is widely noted for its 'otherworldly' projects that infuse temporal and spatial dimensions with equal parts —material, light and air, combining formal restraint, exacting craft and innovative methods with refined detailing, that intends to create an 'evidence of aura'. In 2006, while teaching at Columbia GSAPP the partners launched their Studio's cosmic research arm —SEArch (Space Exploration Architecture)—now SEArch+ www.spacexarch.com to connect, investigate, and explore life on, between, and beyond Earth.
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY
LightShowers, an immersive installation inspired by medical research at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, integrates 'bio-feedback' technology with video images of nature. This temporary multimedia presentation, a 'touchstone' of the Studio's research, aims to seamlessly align architecture, art, design, lighting, construction, and technology, to holistically serve human health and wellbeing . LightShowers was presented in art museums, galleries, and biennale expositions on 3 continents over a 3 years and was experienced by over 150+ thousand visitors.
RESPONSIBILITY & REUSE
Designing for "a world that is already full", Morris Sato Studio critically engages in ground-up, adaptive reuse, and conservation projects. In dialogue with the past, learning from the 'ready-made', and toiling 'like a gardener', the Studio seeks to cultivate opportunities that invest in safeguarding and celebrating present and future ecologies and by collaboratively participating in multi-generational efforts to the "social contract that gives something back".
PLACES & SPACES
INTERIORS
URBANISM & SUSTAINABILITY
CIVIC LANDSCAPES
Morris Sato interior's often employ the Japanese-Chinese 'borrowed landscape' garden principle to synchapate light, air, matter, texture, and colour with the environments beyond.
CIVIC LANDSCAPES
URBANISM & SUSTAINABILITY
CIVIC LANDSCAPES
By extending the 'borrowed' principle into public exteriors the Studio's process is akin to a gardener's in cultivating all of the senses, fusing the natural, the man-made, with the ephemeral.
URBANISM & SUSTAINABILITY
URBANISM & SUSTAINABILITY
URBANISM & SUSTAINABILITY
Recognizing our climate emergency, Morris Sato is committed to implementing the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in support of all life forms and communities around the globe.
EXHIBITIONS & INSTALLATIONS
CULTURAL
COMMERCIAL
COMMERCIAL
Morris Sato Studio's gardening tropes are most notably displayed in permanent and temporary art museum installations and exhibition designs, galleries, archives, and administrative offices.
COMMERCIAL
COMMERCIAL
COMMERCIAL
The commercial spin-offs of Morris Sato’s extensive art museum work are award-winning trade show pavilions, showrooms, medical and hospitality spaces, products,and facilities.
CORPORATE
COMMERCIAL
CORPORATE
For American Express, the Studio spatially narrated the corporation's economic history fusing physical artifacts, financial products, advertisement ephemera with branding.
HEALTHCARE & WELLBEING
Morris Sato Studio is committed to improving existing and innovating next-generation medical facilities into resilient, humane, and serviceable spaces for healing on Earth and beyond.
Balancing purposeful hygienic and healthy spaces, Morris Sato equally strives to construct quiet, gentle, and contemplative experiences that are accessible, inclusive, and welcoming to all.
RESEARCH & REFLECTION
FEATURE: SHELTER ISLAND HOUSES, USA
EXTERIOR VIEWS: YN-13 HOUSE
COSTUMES: 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY
"TAIKONAUT" COSTUME DESIGN - OPENING
"TAIKONAUT" COSTUME DESIGN - OPENING
"TAIKONAUT" COSTUME DESIGN - OPENING
"CYBORG" COSTUME DESIGN - FINALE
"TAIKONAUT" COSTUME DESIGN - OPENING
"TAIKONAUT" COSTUME DESIGN - OPENING