
Professor Yutaka Sho
Yutaka Sho is a professor of architecture teaching undergraduate and at International Program in Architecture and Urban Design (I-AUD) at Meiji University. Sho is also a partner and co-founder of nonprofit architecture firm General Architecture Collaborative or GAC.
GAC has been working in Rwanda since 2008 with underrepresented communities to build sustainable and aesthetically engaging spaces while using the construction sites for end-user training. GAC’s work includes self-build homes funded by the 2012 Arnold Brunner Grant and which received the 2014 EDRA Great Places Award; the Masoro Health Center which was recognized by AIA Virginia, Dazeen, Architizer, SARA NY and Architecture Masterprize in 2020; and the Masoro Learning and Sports Center in 2021 which was awarded by SARA NY, Architizer, SARA NY, and Dazeen. GAC was the recipient of Best of Practice Award for Small Firm in the Northeast by The Architect’s Newspaper in 2021, and was named the Game Changers by the Metropolis Magazine in 2020. GAC is currently completing Rwanda Housing Project to survey and document 370 rural homes with architecture students from University of Rwanda and Syracuse, among others.
Sho’s scholarly research focuses on the roles of architecture in the global development industry and in post-conflict reconciliation processes. Her publications include “Five Aesthetics of the Global Development Industry: Building Low-Cost Housing in Rwanda” in The Plan Journal, “Regenerative Material-Human Ecologies: Investigating Mycelium for Living and Decentralized Architectures in Rwanda” in Design for Rethinking Resources from Springer Nature, among many others.
Sho received her Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from Tokyo University’s Department of Socio-Cultural Environmental Studies in the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design.