Soapbox is a series delivering a curated set of lectures, talks, and symposia concerning contemporary themes explored through the archives of lectures past and present. 

This week, we focus on the words and ideas of Shohei Shigematsu, a rising partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and director of OMA New York who has had a hand in shaping some of the most iconic, revolutionary, and witty architectural projects of the last decade, including the CCTV tower in Beijing, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Cornell University's Milstein Hall, and the Audrey Irmas Pavilion in Los Angeles, among many others. Through some of the collected lectures by Shigematsu, we are able to peer into the layered and highly responsive design ethos that has fueled Shigematsu's rise.

"On Architectural Generations."

Shohei Shigematsu and Bjarke Ingels discuss the chronology of "architectural generations." Video courtesy of The Barbican Centre.

In a 2012 lecture, Shigematsu discusses different ways of measuring the progression of OMA's influence in architecture as a business and practice. In conversation with BIG founder Bjarke Ingels, formerly of OMA himself, the two present contrasting visions for understanding the growth, propagation, and long-term longevity of an architectural practice. 

"J. Robert F Swanson lecture"

In a 2018 lecture at the University of Michigan Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Design, Shigematsu discusses a variety of contemporary architectural phenomena, including the so-called "High Line Effect," and its impact on framing large-scale urban oppositions between new and old structures. 

"Sydney Gross Memorial Lecture"

Shohei Shigematsu speaks at the University of Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning to discuss OMA's proposal for the Buffalo Albright-Knox-Gundlach Art Museum expansion.

"Making Milstein Hall"

In a 2012 lecture, Shohei Shigematsu describes the long-term process of designing the new Milstein Hall at Cornell University, a project that spanned the Great Recession, an era of great expansion for the firm's portfolio of work, especially in Asia.