Robert Murase

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Robert Murase is a world renowned landscape architect born 1938, in San Francisco as a third generation Japanese-American. His work throughout the Pacific Northwest demonstrates the skill and passion he had for landscape design. He was known as one of the best landscape designers locally and internationally. Robert Murase died at age 66 due to heart attack complications. Robert was known as a true artist who had soul, where his works were poetical and often spiritual due to the emotional thought process he had with designing sites. Influenced by his Japanese heritage, Robert used elements that mimicked nature. "I always considered him a poet of stone and water," stated by John Nesholm of LMN Architects.

Robert Murase graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a BLA in landscape architecture. He was hired by Robert Royston & Associates in 1965. To further enrich his experience in the landscape architecture field Murase moved to Japan, where he maintained a practice for almost 10 years conducting garden research at Kyoto University. He then moved to Portland to become a local Oregonian. He taught at the University of Oregon's Department of Landscape Architecture for a few years and then he worked for the EDAW in Portland, OR. In 1982, he formed Murase Associates in Portland, and opened a Seattle office in 1989. His firm went on to win about 50 design awards. He was a fellow member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and honorary member of AIA Seattle.

[edit] Designs and influences

Murase found roots in his own ancestry where he incorporated the elements that are often found in Japanese gardens. His signature material was stone, strongly influenced from stone sculptor Isamu Noguchi. The Japanese American Historical Plaza along Portland's waterfront was strongly influenced by the internment camp of 110,000 Japanese-Americans. He was placed in an internment camp along with his parents as a child growing up in San Francisco. He influenced others by being a guest speaker at universities, museums, and other institutions. He recently authored Touching the Stones, a book tracing 100 years of Japanese American history, which is based on his design of the Japanese American Historical Plaza.