HOK has announced the death of the studio’s cofounder Gyo Obata, who passed away on March 8th at age 99. One of three principals who founded the practice in St. Louis, Missouri, Obata’s architectural career spanned six decades until his retirement in 2012.

Obata was born in San Francisco in 1923 and enrolled in the architecture program at the University of California, Berkeley in 1942. His studies were interrupted by the internment of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II, which would see him travel to St. Louis to continue his architectural training at Washington University — one of the only U.S. universities which continued to accept Japanese-American students. Obata concluded his education with a Masters in Architecture and Urban Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1946.

Obata’s early professional career included a designer role at the Chicago office of SOM and the St. Louis firm Hellmuth, Yamasaki & Leinweber (HYL) where he worked under future World Trade Center architect Minoru Yamasaki. In 1955, the firm was reorganized as Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK), with 32-year-old Obata appointed principal of design.

Notable projects delivered by Obata include the Priory Chapel at St. Louis Abbey which features an iconic circular façade with three tiers of whitewashed, thin-shell concrete parabolic arches, and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. comprised of monumental limestone volumes linked by glass atria. Obata’s notable overseas projects included the 1983 King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which built on the early concept that an international airport could serve as the gateway to a city, country, or entire culture.

Notable accolades accumulated by Obata through his career include a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, the Gold Honor Award from the AIA St. Louis in 2002, and the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts from the Japanese American National Museum in 2004.

“Gyo’s extraordinary career at HOK continued into his 90s, and he served as a mentor to several generations of designers including myself,” said HOK Chairman and CEO Bill Hellmuth on Obata’s passing. “As an example to all of us, he led HOK to become the largest architecture-engineering firm in the United States while never abdicating his role as a designer of significant projects.”

News of Obata’s death follows other notable architects and designers who have passed away in 2022. In February, we covered news of the death of influential New York architect Paul Willen, the conceptual artist Dan Graham, and Prescott Reavis who championed Black excellence and mentorship within architecture.

January meanwhile saw the passing of Miami Marine Stadium architect Hilario Candela, renowned Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill, Ontario Place architect Eberhard Zeidler, and former NYC Planning Commissioner Donald H. Elliott.