I had the incredible opportunity to present on Lake Flato's architectural visualization workflows and outputs at the annual American Society of Architectural Illustrators (ASAI) conference in Tokyo, Japan, last week! Here is a quick recap of the event that should inspire you to attend the event next year where it will be back in the USA.
I don't have much time to elaborate with commentary like I have with other recaps, but these photos are generally in chronological order. You can check out a recorded webinar I did for ArchVision that gives a preview of what I ended up presenting on; Click here for that post.
October 1, 2025
The first day was hosted at the Italian Cultural Institute Auditorium adjacent to the Imperial Garden.10:00 – 11:00
Check-in Registration at the Italian Cultural Institute Auditorium Lower Level Foyer in the Hanzomon neighborhood of Tokyo
11:00 – 14:30
Walking Tour of Historic, Cultural Landmarks of Central Tokyo including the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, the Moat of the Palace, and Meiji Era Tokyo Station. Lunch with a Grand View. Learn something new and meet other conference attendees
15:00 – 16:15
Keynote Speaker Architect Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA, Pritzker Prize and RIBA Gold Winner
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18:00 – 20:00
Exhibition at the Italian Cultural Institute
October 2, 2025
The second and third days were hosted at Nikken Sekki's beautiful Palace Side Building, also adjacent to the Imperial Garden; in fact, they have a fantastic rooftop garden with incredible views.
9:15 – 10:00
Panel Discussion about the future of Architectural Visualization moderated by Nikken Architect Kevin Walsh
10:00 – 10:30
Kenta Miyakawa of Nikken Sekkei will speak about the use of AI in Architectural Visualization.
10:30 – 11:45
Dan Stine of Lake Flato Architects will discuss Architectural Storytelling through Real-Time Visualization, Sketching, and AI,
Kiyo Hasegawa will do a painting demonstration in the traditional Japanese Nihonga style. How to Get Soul into Your Painting will be a topic of conversation.
14:30 – 16:00
Tim Fu and Rada Daleva of Studio Tim Fu will explain the best AI prompting practices and how STF creates Living Sketches" using AI.
16:00 – 17:00
Tomoyuki Tanaka will show his fascinating drawings of multi-layered subway and train stations in Japan.
9:15 – 10:45 (Option 01) <-- I attended this option
Arturo Tedeschi will discuss how he creates his design work using Grasshopper, AI, and other software.
9:15 – 10:45 (Option 02) <-- I did not attend this option
Maksim Koloskov will lead a hands-on watercolor painting workshop. Bring your own watercolor paper, paints, brushes, water container, etc.
10:45 – 12:00
Hera Kim of Tinker Tailor will show her AI architectural visualizations and explain how she creates them. Hera showed some very detailed prompts and asked that we did not take photos... it was amazing. She is famous on Instagram; be sure to look her up.
12:45 – 14:00
Jason Bergeron and Andras Vida of Brick Visual will discuss the business and production side of their very successful and prolific architectural visualization company.
14:00 – 16:00
Silvia Tossici and Ryan Keyzer of Squint/Opera will show some of their most interesting architectural visualizations and explain best practices when working directly with other firms.
17:00 – 21:00
Awards Dinner on the 42nd floor (Sumitomo Kaikan) of Izumi Garden Tower in the Roppongi I-chome neighborhood overlooking Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Bay. Catered Dinner, Awards Ceremony, and Networking. Elevators to Sumitomo Kaikan on left side of Level Four Lobby.
A few selfies and book giveaway winners...
Tom Ge\astel of Nikken Sekki was the ASAI president this year and invited me to present. He was so incredably helpful leading up to the conference and answering lots of questions on getting to and navigating Japan! Thanks soooo much, Tom!
I got selfies with a few of the folks who won a copy of my book! I even singed a few of them:)
Architecture students from Osaka (who also received awards for their illustrations).
Fun fact... Chie's last name is "ASAI" :)
Oh, and I got to change out with my friend James Scott Brew, who I worked with in Minnesota, who now lives in Tokyo and also works at Nikken Sekki!!!
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