Résumé

Service, US Army, 1946-1947.

Architect, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), Architects, Chicago, IL, 1947-1951.

Architect, Minoru Yamasaki, Architect, Saint Louis, MO, 1951-1955.

Principal, [George] Hellmuth, Obata, and [George] Kassabaum (HOK), Architects, Saint Louis, MO, 1955- .

Teaching

Named the inaugural Howard A. Friedman Visiting Professor of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Berkeley, CA, 1992.

Professional Activities

Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Saint Louis Chapter.

In 1970, Obata was a registered architect in the States of AL, AK, CA, CT, D.C., FL, GA, IL, IN, IO, KS, KY, MD, MA, MI, MS, MO, NE, NV, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, TX, VA, and WI.

Member, Advisory Council for the Presidio, San Francisco, CA, 1991.

Professional Awards

Recipient, Academy of Achievement, Salute to Excellence Award, San Diego, CA, 12/27-30/1962.

Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 1969.

Recipient, Washington University, Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Saint Louis, MO, 1990.

Recipient, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Saint Louis, MO, 1991.

Inductee, Saint Louis Walk of Fame, Saint Louis, MO, 1992.

Recipient, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), Honorary Doctorate, Edwardsville, IL, 1999.

Recipient, AIA, Saint Louis Chapter, Gold Award Honor, Saint Louis, MO, 2002.

Recipient, Japanese American National Museum, Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts, Los Angeles, CA, 2004.

Recipient, Saint Louis Arts and Education Council, Lifetime Achievement Award, Saint Louis, MO, 2008.

Recipient, Washington University, Sam Fox School, Dean's Medal, Saint Louis, MO, 2008.

College

B.Arch., Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, 1945.

Master's, Architecture and Urban Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, 1946. He studied at this time with the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, the head of Cranbrook's architectural and urban planning program. Saarinen became President of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1932, and succeeded in attracting a stream of highly-talented designers, such as Charles Eames, Ray Kaiser, Harry Bertoia, Florence Schust, Edmund M. Bacon and Obata to Cranbrook during the 1930s and 1940s.

College Awards

Recipient, Washington University, Frederick Widmann Scholarship, Saint Louis, MO.

Recipient, Cranbrook Institute Tuition Fellowship, Bloomfield Hills, MI.

Relocation

Gyo F. Obata, the son of a painter and a floral designer, was born and grew up in San Francisco, CA.

Parents

His parents were both artists. His father was Chiura Zoroku Obata (born 11/18/1886 in Sendai, Japan-d. 10/06/1975 in Berkeley, CA), a Professor of Painting at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), between 1932 and 1953.

His mother was Haruko Kohashi (born 03/24/1894 in Fukuoka, Japan- d. 1989), who became one of the first instructors in ikebana in the Bay Area. She married Chiura on 01/06/1912 in San Francisco, CA.

Haruko and Chiura had four children together: Gyo, Kimio George Obata (born 09/15/1912 in San Francisco, CA), Lillian Yuri Obata (born 04/13/1927 in CA)

• San Francisco, CA (Architect's Birth)
  San Francisco, CA

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