
IBM Corporation T.J. Watson Research Center
Founder Hideo Sasaki and principal emeritus Stu Dawson, FASLA, designed this landscape shortly after the building was designed by Eero Saarinen. The gardens show the influence of Japanese design.
Generations of designers, architects, and planners have found a home to collaborate and grow within Sasaki’s walls
For decades, Sasaki has placed itself at the nexus of the industry’s most forward-thinking projects; creating inspired, brave work that seeks to define the future of place
Hideo Sasaki was internationally respected as a landscape architect, planner, teacher, and mentor. He instilled our firm with a spirit of critical thinking and open inquiry. He pioneered the concept of interdisciplinary planning and design. Hideo insisted that every project be put in its cultural, historical, geographical, environmental, social, and economic context—an approach that is even more important today than it was then.
In 1953 Hideo founded the firm that would evolve into Sasaki, and in the same year he joined the faculty at Harvard. He was educated at the University of California, Berkeley and at the University of Illinois, as well as at Harvard. As chairman of Harvard’s Landscape Architecture Department from 1958 until 1968, Hideo helped revolutionize the study of landscape architecture by tying it to the larger issues of planning and by breaking down the traditional barriers between practice and teaching. He invited busy practitioners in a variety of disciplines to guest teach in his department, enriching the curriculum and connecting it to the real world. He brought promising students into his firm, and they put his practical, interdisciplinary approach into action.
Industry professionals, academicians, and former Hideo Sasaki colleagues and students gathered in the fall of 2019 to celebrate Hideo’s life and legacy 100 years after his birth.
Throughout the last seven decades, Sasaki has made an indelible mark on the built world around us. We work in our own local community, throughout the U.S., and around the globe. We have garnered over 800 national and international design awards across all firm disciplines. Our leaders speak alongside those shaping the future of our world, and write on integrated topics in publications both broad and niche.
Sasaki continues to evolve. Our professionals are engaged in architecture, interior design, planning, urban design, landscape architecture, strategic planning, graphic design, and civil engineering. All disciplines are represented in the ownership and management of the firm, giving our work a practical dimension that focuses on designing projects that are buildable. Our offices are vibrant and dynamic, featuring open workspaces that reflect our dedication to collaboration and facilitate ingenuity.
We honor the memory of Hideo Sasaki and continually strive to expand upon the unique way of working that is his legacy. Our innovative approach, boundless curiosity, and passion for what we do infuses each of our projects and propels us into the future.
Founder Hideo Sasaki and principal emeritus Stu Dawson, FASLA, designed this landscape shortly after the building was designed by Eero Saarinen. The gardens show the influence of Japanese design.
Sasaki designed the landscape for this modernist plaza in the early 1970s. The site has since been designated a city landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission.
Greenacre Park is a "vest-pocket" park—a style of urban open space popularized in the 1970s in response to the high cost of city center land, high intensity of use, and the need to secure the park after hours.
The John Deere headquarters is a corporate headquarters situated in a pastoral landscape, and one of the landmarks for such headquarters during the mid-twentieth century.
The landscape for this community college in Los Altos, California was designed by Hideo Sasaki and Peter Walker, and further showcases the influence of neo-Japanese gardens on their work. The campus was widely recognized for its groundbreaking aesthetics.
Beginning in 1967, planning for Costa Smeralda was incredibly innovative for the time and included working with the existing forest, protecting the valleys, and making the resort developments a series of villages.