Yasuaki Onoda

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, Lecturer, Tohoko University, Dept of Architecture, Professor, PhD

Yasuaki Onoda is an architect and planner whose early notable contributions include the Sendai Mediatheque, a masterpiece of contemporary architecture designed by Toyo Ito in 2001. He is the VP of the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) and won the 2022 AIJ Research Award. Following Japan’s 2011 tsunami and earthquake, Onoda played a critical role as a co-founder of ArchiAid. With over 200 architects, ArchiAid has helped revive Japan’s battered coastal region. It has held symposiums and workshops, joined local planning committees, interviewed disaster victims about the history of their obliterated villages, and drawn up town plans that take safety, sustainability, and culture into account. Onoda has played an important role as an organizer for reconstruction projects in disaster affected areas, and published and conducted critical research on the implications of recovery planning. He has received numerous awards, including for his book, Pre-Design Thinking.