About Me

My name is Riichiro Yamamoto, from Japan. I am a creator with an architecture background. I work around Art, Design, and Architecture disciplines.

2023 in Hyogo, Japan

This is a project I did with my family called “Home”. Basically, we wrapped around our actual house with about 50 sheets of blue tarpaulin for 24 hours. The purpose of this project was to ask the minimum and maximum unit for the term “Us” and think about the term. The house is where all of my family members were living together before we started to live separately.

2023 in Japan

As you probably questioned “why blue tarpaulin ?”. Well, I am just fascinated by it. It is used all over the world but the use of blue tarpaulin is significantly unique and diverse in Japan. It is going to be very long if I start to talk about blue tarpaulin, so ask me if you want to know more. Here are some photos of blue tarpaulin I have taken over the last 2 years.

2021-2022 in Oita, Japan

In Oita, I worked with a partner and around 50 local university students to build tree houses. We had the opportunity to do whatever we wanted in an area of the mountain. We made the first treehouse in 2021 which is an open-air relaxing space with an incredible view, and the second treehouse was built in a year after which functions as a sauna.

2018-2021 in Tokyo, Japan

I was working at an architectural office called Shigeru Ban Architects. Obviously, the head architect is Shigeru Ban (an internationally famous Japanese architect). I always admired him and his work, so it was a pleasure to work at his office.
While I was there I was a part of many different projects, but my favourite one was a small renovation project for a community cafe ( also I was the main designer for this one). It was a project with a low budget so 70% of the construction was done by people from the local community with the collaboration of professional constructors. I had so much fun with this project but it also became one of the reasons for me to leave the office.

2013-2018 in London, UK

I study at UAL (University of the Arts London) BA Architecture. This was when I got introduced to the architecture world and also the time I became really interested in the making. For my final project, I focused on wasted coffee grounds and explored the possibility of architectural application. So I was in the workshop all the time making and getting dirty with the materials.

2010-2013 in New Hampshire, US

For my high school, I went to a boarding school in New Hampshire. This was my first proper experience living in a different country. There have been difficult times but I enjoyed art class (and snowboarding).

Great East Japan Earthquake 2011

This was a moment when everything started. When I was 16 I worked in the disaster area as a volunteer for 2 weeks during my high school summer holiday. From this experience, I eventually decided to study architecture. This is something I carried until today and probably I will be carrying it tomorrow.