A noted architect now based in Los Angeles will present the next lecture sponsored by the College of Architecture, Planning, and Design.

Kulapat Yantrasast of WHY Architecture will give

A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste

at 5:00 p.m. Friday, February 26, in Foerster Auditorium (Room 63) of Seaton Hall on the K-State campus. The event is open to the public without charge.

The lecture will be a discussion and exploration of WHY Architecture’s approach and strategies employed in their projects and built works that attempt to address the multiple issues on contemporary architecture’s agenda-moving beyond the visual, sustainability, what and how and why exactly shall we build. The firm believes that new ideas begin by first asking why.

Kulapat Yantrasast, a native of Thailand, is a principal of WHY Architecture which he founded in 2003. Newsweek magazine’s article on architecture noted WHY Architecture as one of the innovative architectural practices of the new generation. Their philosophy of the integration of creative thinking with timeless design, along with their focus on intelligent and high-quality construction, have gained them a reputation for their architectural works and projects for the arts and culture all over the country.

In 2007, WHY Architecture completed the Grand Rapids Art Museum, the first new art museum in the world to receive LEED certification for environmental design. Other current projects include the expansion and renovation of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, the oldest and largest art museum in Kentucky; a series of gallery designs and collection installations at the Art Institute of Chicago; the Art Bridge at the Great Wall of Los Angeles; the Social and Public Art Resource Center in Venice, California; and the new Tyler Museum of Art in Texas as well as many residential and commercial projects.

Prior to WHY Architecture, Yantrasast was a close associate of Tadao Ando and project architect on many projects during 1996-2003. He was the project architect on the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; the ARMANI / TEATRO in Milan; the projects for the Calder Museum in Philadelphia; the Fondation Francois Pinault in Paris; and the project for the Sterling and Francine Clark Institute in Williamstown that continues with Tadao Ando.

Yantrasast has a degree in architecture from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, and received his masters and Ph.D. in architecture from the University of Tokyo, Japan, under the Scholarship from Japanese Government. He lectures regularly in the U.S. and worldwide. Since 2005, he has served on the Artists’ Committee of Americans for the Arts, the nation’s oldest organization for the support of the arts in society. He was also awarded the prestigious Silpathorn Award in 2009 from the Government of Thailand for outstanding achievement and notable contributions to Thai contemporary arts and culture, the first architect to receive the award.

While in the area, Yantrasast will also speak on Thursday, February 25, at 6:30 p.m. at the Kansas City Design Center, 1018 Baltimore.

This event is funded by the K-State Student Fine Arts fee. Attendance at the lecture can be submitted as continuing education credit for design professionals by contacting Diane Potts.

For more information, contact:
Vladimir Krstic, 785.532.5953
CAPD@ksu.edu, 785.532.1090