Mira Locher to Discuss Traditional Japanese Architecture on April 16

Photo Submitted

Yoshijima House, in Takayama, Japan. (Photo courtesy Ben Simmons)

Mira “Mimi” Locher will present the lecture “From Earth to Sky: Elements of Traditional Japanese Architecture” at 5:30 p.m. April 16 in Hembree Auditorium, in the Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Building (Room 107E), on the University of Arkansas campus.

Soaring roofs with long eaves, heavy timber structures of stout columns supporting deep beams, mud plaster walls flecked with straw and sand, and refined paper-covered lattice shoji screens – each of these distinctly Japanese elements conveys a particular historic development, construction, function, and inherent symbolism. The stories these elements relate are firmly situated in the natural environment and traditional culture of Japan, yet they remain relevant to contemporary life.

Locher is an associate professor of architecture at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, as well as a practicing architect. She worked for Team Zoo Atelier Mobile in Japan for seven years before returning to the United States to practice and teach.

In addition to design studios, she teaches courses on Japanese architecture and construction and leads study tours to Japan. Locher is the author of three books, Super Potato Design: The Complete Works of Takashi Sugimoto, Japan’s Leading Interior Designer (2006), Traditional Japanese Architecture: An Exploration of Elements and Forms (2010), and the forthcoming Zen Gardens: The Complete Works of Shunmyo Masuno, Japan’s Leading Garden Designer.

This event is part of the 2011-12 Fay Jones School of Architecture lecture series.

Admission is free, with limited seating.