a+u 647: OMA — Shohei Shigematsu maps the evolving practice of one of OMA's most significant figures, tracing how Shigematsu's work across New York and Tokyo holds rational structure and soft form in deliberate, productive tension.
Shohei Shigematsu has led OMA New York since 2006, guiding a body of work that spans educational facilities, art museums, exhibition design, and large-scale commercial complexes. This monographic issue of a+u examines what connects those disparate programs: an architecture Shigematsu describes as "open-ended" — capable of absorbing and reflecting society in the moment. Rather than resolving form toward a signature aesthetic, his projects hold the rational box and the soft, indeterminate form in coexistence, particularly within the contemporary public realm. With 34 projects, extended essays, and two in-depth conversations with the architect, this issue is essential reading for those tracking the evolution of OMA's thinking beyond Rotterdam.