Young Architects Program International

Taeg Nishimoto was a YAP finalist in 2000. He now lives in Japan, but continues to add the same "attitude" he expressed in his YAP competition entry to his current work.

Q&A with Taeg Nishimoto

MoMA PS1: How did you position yourself to get nominated?
Taeg Nishimoto: After I was involved in the program, I was informed that Tom Hanrahan, the Dean of the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute, where I used to teach, had nominated me.

MoMA PS1: Did YAP change anything for you or your firm? When did you recognize the full potential of the competition?
Taeg Nishimoto: What the competition brief conveyed to me was to propose an "attitude" for the design of the installation rather than the finalized design. It was an interesting challenge especially in the context of the budget presented. The images I presented included a fishnet spanning the courtyard and had swimming outfits hanging from the net. I even suggested that we could ask people to donate the swimming outfits. The hanging outfits could be lit at night to create a bit of a gaudy or edgy atmosphere. I guess I enjoyed the sense of not "designing" an object at the time since the proposal was meant to be an attitude towards the place. This concept seems to have lingered in my later work, or in thoughts to describe certain aspects of my work.

MoMA PS1: How was your design shaped by the history of YAP?
Taeg Nishimoto: It is quite interesting to see the result of every year's project. I have been looking at them in the published and online images rather than being there, because I have since left New York. I also enjoy looking at the finalists' proposals that were not selected, as they convey a rather personal dimension.