Saika Akiyoshi

Saika Akiyoshi was born in Nagasaki, Japan. After graduating from Shibaura Institute of Technology with a master’s degree in architecture, she worked for HIDETO HORIIKE+URTOPIA, and Office Hiyoshizaka in Tokyo and founded KiKi ARCHi in 2013. She grew up and was educated in the United States and Japan, bringing her different cultures and ideologies. Meanwhile, the combination of these experiences has shaped her open-minded personality. She often looks at things from the perspective of a ‘bystander’. In addition, the appropriate ‘sense of distance’ helps her deal with works more rationally and objectively and find the fine distinction to obtain design inspiration. Saika Akiyoshi stresses the importance of analysis and perception of design and attaches importance to the instant feelings and creative emotions of the design process. In her view, tangible reality is better than simple vision. Therefore, she is used to building space with the help of manual models, and sorting out the scale relations among people, architecture, and nature. In this process of discovery and renewal, she combines project requirements and characteristics as well as client’s feedback to achieve the ultimate balance of construction. In addition, she focuses on creating a sense of sensual experience and continuity by organizing the density of space and weakening the boundaries of different scenes, and presents a balanced, comfortable, and smooth design. In addition to architecture, her working concept and thinking are constantly expressed in a broader and more diversified field.