Make Do With Now: interview with the curator Yuma Shinohara
In this interview, curator Yuma Shinohara offers an in-depth look at Make Do With Now. New Directions in Japanese Architecture, on view at the Teatro dell’architettura Mendrisio. Through his words, we explore how a new generation of architects is rethinking practice in response to Japan’s urgent social and environmental challenges.
In this interview, curator Yuma Shinohara guides us through the exhibition Make Do With Now. New Directions in Japanese Architecture, on view at the Teatro dell’architettura Mendrisio (USI) from April 11 to October 5, 2025. The exhibition explores how a new generation of Japanese architects is responding to pressing national challenges: population decline, aging demographics, rural depopulation, vacant housing, the climate crisis, and profit-driven urban development. Through critical, ecological, and socially engaged practices — grounded in the use of existing structures, reclaimed materials, and limited resources — these architects redefine their role, moving away from the traditional figure of the “author-architect.” The show features twenty recent projects and highlights five selected studios.
