Hideo Sasaki's personal data

Hideo Sasaki, founder of SWA Group, the world's most prestigious landscape architecture, urban design and planning firm, and founder of Sasaki Associates Inc, a famous American landscape design firm, graduated from the Department of Landscape Architecture of the Graduate School of Design (GSD) of Harvard University. 1948. 1953, at the invitation of isaacs, Sasaki returned to teach at his alma mater. 1958, he served as the head of the Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University, and this position lasted for 10 years until 1968, when he was angry that the new dean of the Graduate School of Design from the business school neglected the Department of Landscape Architecture. Also in 1953, Sasaki chose Shuicheng, not far from Harvard University, and established his own landscape architecture design office.

While studying business and art university courses, Sasaki became interested in planning this new field. This prompted him to come from Southern California to the University of California, Berkeley, where he was exposed to architecture, landscape design and planning. His interest in creating with ideas and natural elements makes him more inclined to the field of landscape architecture.

At the University of Illinois, Sasaki met many architectural educators and practicing architects. It was they who drastically reformed the methods of academic planning and design, did not stick to the theory of modernism and the expression of "orthodoxy", but tried to solve the more urgent problems in the environment at that time. They emphasize the design suitable for the site on a large scale and do not advocate being bound by preconceived views and theories. At the same time, in the field of architecture, students began to explore urban renewal, housing, new communities and other issues from the late 1930s. In this atmosphere, Sasaki was attracted by the teachers and students of architecture and urban planning, and benefited a lot from it. From 1948, he obtained a master's degree in landscape architecture from Harvard University until 1953, when he opened his own office. It took him five years to gain practical and teaching experience. During this period, I cooperated with isaacs, a planner, on urban renewal projects and research topics in Chicago and its surrounding areas. These teaching and design practices laid the foundation for Sasaki's future development in the field of urban design.

1956 In April, the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University held a conference on urban design, hoping to find a common foundation for the work of architects, landscape designers and planners. At this meeting, the moderator and Dean Seth emphasized that solving urban design problems requires a large number of professionals, and the cooperation and exchange among architects, landscape architects and planners can bring opportunities for the revitalization of the city and promote the development of urban design. Sasaki took this opportunity to highlight some chaotic situations in the development of modern society, which made him feel sorry for the meaningless similarity and patchwork of architectural forms and the lack of scale. Sasaki believes that the huge buildings used to display industrial technology may express an unprecedented space, but it is still human beings who want to use and understand these buildings; Another chaotic phenomenon is the lack of connection with the environment, and once people understand the environment, they can be more humble or brave to create. These viewpoints show that Sasaki, as the founder of the firm, has extraordinary insight and rational analytical thinking ability, and his views on cities and urban design have reached a new height.

Although Sasaki has done a lot of landscape design practice, his colleagues commented: "He never considered himself a landscape designer." The land we plan and design is not a commodity, but a natural resource, a place for human activities, and also a wealth and civilized memory of human beings. This is the founder's fundamental view of the cause and the company. In 1959, Sasaki mentioned the words of the planner Richard Dopp: "All buildings, cities, institutions, houses, etc. Must be built on land. If we can provide competition and necessary services, then nothing can limit our development. " Dopp noted: "The second area we should participate in is urban design-a continuous process of developing a rich material environment and connecting individuals with the public." It can be said that from landscape design to urban design, Sasaki has experienced a deepening understanding of this field, and his design creation has also flourished.

During his tenure as head of the Department of Landscape Architecture from 1958 to 1968, on the one hand, the company provided part-time lecturers and financial support for the department, on the other hand, he persuaded architects who were busy practicing and experts in emerging fields such as aerial photography interpretation and computer application to give short-term lectures. For the most promising students, they can find part-time jobs and jobs in his company after graduation. In this process, the traditional boundary between practice and teaching is gradually blurred, and teaching and practice develop together in cooperation.

Sasaki's humble and open mind won the respect of other designers who participated in the project, and the cooperative project was successfully carried out and continuously improved, thus contributing to the emergence of one master work after another.

1989, Sasaki himself quit the operation of the firm and left the company completely. Sasaki became the symbol of the company to commemorate Sasaki's pioneering contribution to the company. After Sasaki left, Sasaki has become a company with more than 200 employees and more than 20 partners, and continues to maintain its original concept, vitality and quality.

On September 6, 2000, 80-year-old Sasaki left. This year is the Year of the Loong. Sasaki Company, which has just been in Chinese mainland for one year, has completed the urban design task of 12, and its business is distributed in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing.

From the field of landscape design to urban design, Sasaki spared no effort to promote the combination of landscape design and urban design, and had a considerable impact in this regard. He encouraged landscape architects to give full play to their professional expertise and work closely with planners and architects in the field of urban design to bring new atmosphere to urban design. At the same time, he personally brought some ideas developed from landscape design into urban design, leading architectural design with urban design.

What is particularly worth mentioning is the concept of "harmony" that he has always admired. This concept, which originated from the respect and understanding of nature, permeates most of the urban design concepts of Sasaki and his firm: finding suitable design methods from the influence of various ecological tensions, incorporating the ecosystem into the basic structure of the city, and pursuing the * * * life of ecology and the city-this is the harmony between man and nature, and between city and nature; Establish an open space system, pursue pleasant space and suitable scale, and support continuous walking space-this is the harmony between people and cities; On the basis of a correct understanding of the environment, the design of the lot should be considered in connection with the overall environment-this is the harmony between the city and the surrounding environment; Provide the mixed use of land and stimulate the vitality of the city-this is the harmony and balance between the use functions …

The harmony understood by Sasaki is not invariable harmony, but dynamic harmony. He advocated that all aspects of the city should develop flexibly, from the overall structure of the city to the allocation of specific functions. Sasaki led his affairs and made his own thoughts on urban design with the concept of dynamic harmony.

/kloc-in the past 0/0 years, in the research of Asian urban design projects, Sasaki has designed according to the specific conditions of Asian cities, and the design idea has made new development. It is this self-renewal and perfection that constantly enriches their design concepts and maintains the vitality of the firm. Sasaki's practice is all over the world. Here are three projects that we think are the most inspiring.