Kulapat Yantrasast

Kulapat Yantrasast
Born	Bangkok, Thailand
Nationality	Thai
Alma mater	Chulalongkorn University University of Tokyo
Occupation	Architect
Awards	Silpathorn Award
Practice	wHY Architecture
Buildings	Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Kulapat Yantrasast (born in Bangkok) is a Thai architect who is the founding partner and creative director of Why, an interdisciplinary design studio with workshops of buildings, grounds, objects and ideas. In 2007 Yantrasast's studio designed the Grand Rapids Art Museum, the first new art museum building in the world to receive the LEED certification (Gold). Yantrasast lectures on creativity, food, and architecture.

Yantrasast was born in Bangkok, Thailand, where he graduated with honors from Chulalongkorn University. He received his M.Arch. and Ph.D. degrees in Architecture from the University of Tokyo, under a Japanese Government scholarship.

He is currently on the Board of Trustees of the Pulitzer Art Foundation. Since 2005 Yantrasast has served on the Artists’ Committee of the Americans for the Arts, the nation’s oldest organization for support of the arts in the society.

From 1996 to 2003, Yantrasast worked as a close associate to famous Japanese architect Tadao Ando, responsible on international projects including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Fort Worth, Texas (2002), Armani / Teatro in Milan, Italy (2001), Fondation Francois Pinault pour l’Art Contemporain in Paris, France (2001–2003), the Calder Museum project in Philadelphia, PA (1999–2002) and the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA (2001-ongoing) as well as international design competitions.

Yantrasast founded wHY Architecture in 2003, later shortened to wHY. The studio's first major commission was completion of the Grand Rapids Art Museum (2007). Residences include many large-scale homes in Malibu, California, urban dwellings in Venice and Beverly Hills, and villas in Thailand's Chiangmai and Phuket cities as well as Osaka, Japan.

...
Wikipedia