Ellipsoidal force. Mushroom Pavilion by OMA

Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is a leading international partnership practicing architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis. OMA's buildings and masterplans around the world insist on intelligent forms while inventing new possibilities for content and everyday use. OMA is led by ten partners – Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Reinier de Graaf, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, David Gianotten, Chris van Duijn, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Jason Long and Michael Kokora – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, Doha and Dubai.

Responsible for OMA’s operations in America, OMA New York was established in 2001 and has since overseen the successful completion of several buildings across the country including Milstein Hall at Cornell University (2011); the Wyly Theater in Dallas (2009); the Seattle Central Library (2004); the IIT Campus Center in Chicago (2003); and Prada’s Epicenter in New York (2001). The office is currently overseeing the construction of three cultural projects, including the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec and the Faena Arts District in Miami Beach – both scheduled for completion in 2016 – as well as a studio expansion for artist Cai Guo Qiang in New York. The New York office has most recently been commissioned to design a number of residential towers in San Francisco, New York, and Miami, as well as two projects in Los Angeles; the Plaza at Santa Monica, a mixed use complex in Los Angeles, and the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.

OMA New York’s ongoing engagements with urban conditions around the world include a new civic center in Bogota, Colombia; a post-Hurricane Sandy, urban water strategy for New Jersey; the 11th Street Bridge Park and RFK Stadium-Armory Campus Masterplan in Washington, DC; and a food hub in West Louisville, Kentucky.

Expanding upon his built work for museums and cultural institutions, Sho engages the art world through various facets, from collaborations with artists such as Cai Guo-Qiang and Marina Abramović to structures and strategies integrating landscape and resiliency including an underwater art park and distinct structure for the ReefLine in Miami Beach and a mushroom pavilion in Mexico.

Sho’s works in the fashion industry span typologies and scales, from redefined retail spaces as mediums for branding to exploration of exhibitions and scenographies as narrative mediums. In Japan, Sho led the design and successful completion of the Coach flagship in Tokyo and is currently overseeing Harajuku Quest, a cultural and commercial platform connecting Omotesando and Harajuku. Sho has worked with fashion brands and houses, as well as museums, on major exhibition designs—Louis Vuitton Visionary Journeys in Bangkok; Dior retrospectives in Denver, Dallas, and Tokyo; Prada “Waist Down” in Tokyo, Seoul, New York, and Los Angeles; and Manus x Machina at the Met Costume Institute.

Sho has built several innovative workspaces and mixed-use buildings, including the China Central TelevisionHeadquarters in Beijing (2012), the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Headquarters (2013), Tenjin Business Center in Fukuoka, Japan (2021), and most recently, the Toranomon Hills Station Tower for Mori Building Co, Ltd. In Tokyo(2023). His innovation centre design for the Chicago Center for Education & Research for Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) and the University of Illinois System is currently underway.

Sho has lectured at TED and Wired Japan conferences, and universities throughout the world. He has been a visiting professor at Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP), Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), and Columbia University GSAPP. He has been a professor at Kyushu University of Human Environment Studies and Director of BeCAT (Built Environment Center with Art & Technology) since 2021.