SPEAC, inc.

One thing I have noticed since I started to post about architecture here is that I receive amazing architectural renderings from young architects in Europe and other countries but have never seen such things from young Japanese architects. The young Japanese architects seem to have more opportunities to build new houses and buildings, and that may have something to do with the fact that I have hardly seen a jaw-dropping architecture proposal by a young Japanese architect – I only get to see actual results in photographs. However things are changing, and now there are too many aspiring architects in Japan trying to win fewer projects compared to maybe a decade ago. I started to see more cases where a few architects working together on a relatively small project. As a matter of fact, I often find a project which is done by a group of architects more interesting than a solo work.

It is slightly different from, say, a group of three designers working simply on a same project together, but here is an even more interesting example how younger architects try to thrive in a shrinking market. The three partners of a Tokyo-based firm SPEAC, Inc. all studied architecture. Atsumi Hayashi, one of the two founding partners of the firm, studied architecture at the elite “Todai” (The University of Tokyo), then real estate development at Columbia University, and worked at McKinsey & Company before establishing SPEAC. The other founding partner Hiroya Yoshizato studied architecture at the Tokyo Metropolitan University and cofounded RealTokyoEstate, a real estate company, with several others prior to establishing SPEAC with Hayashi. Hiroyuki Miyabe, the third partner, who joined SPEAC in 2007 has focused on architectural design since his graduation from The University of Tokyo. Miyabe worked for a renowned Japanese architect Atsushi Kitagawara before his research at The Technical University of Lisbon.

SPEAC is a multidisciplinary firm, and by looking at their resumes, it’s not so difficult to guess the roll of each partner at SPEAC. In fact, it is much easier than to imagine how multiple architects work together on a small to midsize project in Japan. We are going to show one of SPEAC‘s smaller projects tomorrow (or the day after…), which I personally fell in love with, but first, I would like to encourage you to explore SPEAC‘s website.