Guest Viewpoint: Nicolai Kruger

Nicolai Kruger, AIA is a licensed architect and illustrator. I’ve known Nicolai since her husband Yasu Yanagisawa, AIA, CDT, JIA worked with me at Robertson/Sherwood/Architects back in 2004-2006. Nicolai and Yasu have enjoyed a diversity of rich professional experiences since then, including opportunities to work in Yasu’s native Japan, ultimately returning to Oregon a few years back. They presently live with their two children and work in Portland, Yasu with McKenzie, while Nicolai provides illustration services to architects, designers, developers, and public agencies through her business Nicolai Kruger Studio. Nicolai is also an adjunct assistant professor at Portland State University, where she teaches visual communications.  

It was during their period in Japan that Nicolai worked at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects’ Tokyo office. There, she enjoyed the good fortune of working with the firm’s renowned founder, AIA Gold Medal recipient Cesar Pelli, FAIA, RIBA, JIA. Pelli passed away in July at the age of 92, immediately prompting countless remembrances from all corners in honor of the immensely influential designer of projects like the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the MoMA Museum Tower in New York, and the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. Nicolai penned her own tribute to her former colleague, which I’m pleased to reprint below:

Cesar Pelli (1926-2019)

Remembering Cesar Pelli 

 “Society is the ultimate recipient of all buildings… Citizens have the right to expect that every new building will contribute to a better city and a more humane world.” -  Cesar Pelli

Last month I reunited with former colleagues at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects to remember the firm’s founder, Cesar Pelli. I spent nine years working in the Japan branch of PCPA. Whenever I visited the main office in New Haven, Connecticut, Cesar would ask about my family and our mutual friends back in Tokyo. He revered the Japanese culture and building tradition. He had worked on countless projects in Japan, starting with the US Embassy in 1972, and had made a lasting imprint on the Osaka and Tokyo skylines.

On the few occasions that Cesar came to Tokyo, I was assigned to be his “handler” in Japan. I would meet him at Narita Airport and see to it that he got where he needed to be: meetings and dinners with important clients; occasionally I translated for him during his stay. While working together on the Tokyo American Club project, I noticed that Cesar often acknowledged the influence of his contemporaries and collaborators. He always gave due credit to junior staff and asked for their input.
 
“My love for teaching is older than my love for architecture.”  -  Cesar Pelli

Pelli projects on the Tokyo skyline: Atago Green Hills and Forest Tower. Image (c) Jun Mitusi & Associates Inc. Architects / Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects Japan, Inc.

Now that I am running my own studio and teaching courses at Portland State University, I am more aware of the positive influence Cesar had on me and on our profession. The experience of teaching as a professional, helps one see things anew, which is invaluable. To read more about Cesar Pelli’s life and learn about the academic scholarship set up in his name, see the tribute page here. 日本語のペリの訃報 詳細について.

Nicolai Kruger