Asian Designers Are Schooling American Architects--Here's How

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A Sendai, Japan, clinic | photograph by Daici Ano

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photograph by Jason O'Dell

Which is why both Abe and Ma are taking advantage of Los Angeles' relative proximity to Asia and sending their students abroad, believing that exposure to what's happening in Japan and China will inspire fresh thinking in the next generation of American architects. Masters candidates at UCLA are spending this academic year studying urbanism and architecture in Tokyo, looking for lessons that might be applied to L.A. At USC, Ma has established the first-ever American Academy in China -- modeled on the venerable American Academy in Rome -- where scholars from all over the world can do research individually, as well as share ideas collectively. "The elites from other cultures have been educated in the United Sates, but American leaders are never educated in other places," Ma says. "If America wants to maintain its position, it has to shift. It can't just be about muscle, but about leadership in the arts and the humanities."

And even as they send students abroad, Abe and Ma are reveling in the atmosphere of their adopted hometown. "Los Angeles is definitely not Western," says Ma, a fan of the city's Korean spas and karaoke bars. "It is a fusion." Home to both classical maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen and pop tartlet Britney Spears, L.A. embraces both high culture and low, which creates a "real sympathy" with Asia, says award-winning architect Greg Lynn, who teaches at UCLA -- and shares a passion with Abe for vintage toy robots. "Places like Japan and Korea have a greater respect for popular culture and the industry of popular culture than other places," Lynn says.

Barry Bergdoll, curator of architecture and design at New York's Museum of Modern Art, adds that L.A. "takes much greater risks than most East Coast cities. There's a less conservative business climate." That makes L.A. perfect for the kind of cross-cultural dialogue that Abe and Ma believe can help transform American architectural thinking. "Los Angeles is constantly making community. [People] are constantly cross-pollinating," Ma says. Abe's motivations are similar: "This city allows people to test ideas," he says. "You can see so many different experiences." And after a century of experimental architectural perspectives, L.A. now has two more.