This Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, we want to honor Asian American and Pacific Islanders who have left their mark on the architectural and woodworking worlds.

I.M. Pei (1917-2019)

Born in China and raised in Shanghai, I.M. Pei began his architectural career in the garden villa where his family vacationed. He admired the mixture of natural structures as well as those built by humans. In 1945, Pei moved to the US and decided to enroll in architecture school at the University of Pennsylvania. Being mildly challenged with the curriculum at UPenn, he transferred to the engineering program at MIT in hopes of something more interesting. After dating Eileen Loo, a student in the landscape architectural program at Harvard, Pei was introduced to the faculty of the Graduate School of Design faculty and eventually joined in 1942. In the 1980s, Pei commissioned a riveting project: designing the entryway to a highly esteemed museum in Paris. This project is most notably recognized as the Louver Pyramid in Paris, France. His modernist take sparked outrage as some believed that an extravagant monument wasn’t representative of the art history of the Louvre nor respective of the city. He also worked on New York’s Javits Convention Center, the home to many tradeshows Mockett has been a part of. The Javits Center was a complicated project for all parties involved. New York officials blamed architectural flourishes for delays and budget issues. Ultimately, the Javits Center opened on April 3, 1986, to a positive response. Pei won various awards, including the AIA Gold Medal in 1979 and, in 1983, the Pritzker Prize, the architectural award equivalent to the Nobel Prize.

George K. Nakashima (1905-1990)

George Nakashima was a Japanese American born in Spokane, Washington. Considered the father of the American craft movement, Nakishama began his career in his home state. For his undergraduate education, he enrolled in the architectural program at the University of Washington and graduated in 1929. He would later enroll in MIT’s architectural Master’s program and graduate in 1931. For Nakashima, post-grad life consisted of voyaging worldwide, meeting notable architectural figures like Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright. At his stop in Japan, Nakashima would go on to work with Antonin Raymond to build the Golconde Dormitory in India. While in India, he connected with Gira Sarabhai, a renowned Indian architect and designer. He also studied at the National Institutes of Design in India, learning about woodworking and furniture design foundations. During World War 2, Nakashima was interned at Camp Minidoka in Idaho. Here he learned traditional Japanese carpentry by Gentaro Hokigawa and mastered what became known as his signature style. Nakashima often worked with large wood slabs for his tables, featuring natural edges and butterfly joints. In 2008, his home studio and workshop in Pennsylvania was declared a National Historic Landmark, and in 2015 it was afforded a conservation plan under the Getty Foundation.

Helen Liu Fang (1927-2005)

Helen Liu Fang was a Chinese American designer and architect born in Los Angeles, California. From childhood, Fang dreamt of becoming an architect and pursued her dream by enrolling at UCLA in 1943. Later, she transferred to UC Berkley and studied at the Berkeley School of Architecture, earning a second degree in city planning. After graduating, Fong joined an established architecture firm that would later be known for its Googie architectural style. She specialized in commercial architecture, designing for notable diners and coffee shops nationwide. She is behind the futuristic designs of popular American dine-ins like Norms, Bob’s Big Boy, and Denny’s, as well as coffee shops like Johnie’s and the Holiday Bowl. Fang integrated upswept roofs, boomerang angles, and eye-catching neon signs to adorn the exteriors. For the interiors, Fang kept the funkiness of the Googie style, creating a comfortable and nifty dining experience. Fong expressed that commercial architecture is sporadic, and its purpose was not to stand the test of time. She noted, “If we could make restaurants appealing, make you feel good when you’re in them, then we’d done our job.” Her legacy lives on through the prominent styles of our favorite morning restaurants.

Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986)

Minoru Yamasaki was a Japanese American architect born in Seattle, Washington. Yamasaki joined the architecture program at the University of Washington and graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1934. At first, to fund his passion, he worked jobs at a salmon cannery in Alaska and wrapped dishes for a shipping company in Manhattan, although Yamasaki was eventually able to find work as a draftsman and engineer. To continue his education, he enrolled in NYU’s master’s program for architecture. He then went on to work with Shreve, Lamb, & Harmon, the designers of the Empire State Building. Years later, Yamasaki was able to start his own partnership. His firm’s most notable commission was the original World Trade Center, built in 1973. At the time, the World Trade Center was the home of the fastest elevators traveling 1,700 feet per minute. Yamasaki would also create what was known as the Skylobby System, where three connected elevator systems served different zones of the building. Many criticized the technologies used and the grandeur of the building in the New York City skyline at the time. Yamazaki would later regret some of the building's most popular features, stating that they went against his own design principles and were implemented solely to appease the clients of the building. Although some of his most famous works are no longer standing, his influence on later developments of the modernist movement remains.