ST. LOUIS — Gyo Obata, a world-renowned architect who helped design some of the most well-known buildings in St. Louis and around the world, died Tuesday. He was 99 years old.
Obata created the St. Louis architecture firm HOK alongside partners George Hellmuth and George Kassabaum. His work has been seen by millions, though many may not know it.
His most famous works include:
- U.S. Olympic Fieldhouse in Lake Placid, home to the 1980 Miracle on Ice
- Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles
- Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
- Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
For his daughter, Kiku Obata, some of his greatest designs are right here in St. Louis.
"Priory Chapel, the planetarium are some of my favorite projects of my dad's," she said in an interview with 5 On Your Side in 2021.
Born in San Francisco in 1923, Obata came to St. Louis after his family was forced to leave California during the anti-Japanese movement during World War II. He was accepted into Washington University, one of the few universities accepting Japanese-American students at the time, and graduated in 1945. He received a master's degree a year later from Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Bloomfield Hills, near Detroit.
After graduation, he was drafted into the United States Army and was sent to Alaska to design bridges.
After returning from military service, he joined a firm in Chicago before moving to another firm in Detroit, where he would work on the design of the new St. Louis Municipal Airport.
Years later, he came back to St. Louis and founded HOK. The firm's initial focus was in the area of education, but their work got them opportunities outside of education and across the globe.
Obata remained with the firm until his retirement in 2012 and stayed on as a design consultant until 2018.
“Gyo Obata embodies everything that’s honorable about the architectural profession," Former HOK Chairman Bill Valentine said in a press release. "Instead of designing for the fashion of the times or to make a personal statement, Gyo designs to improve lives. Imagine that.”
In addition to his wife, Mary Judge, he is survived by his children, six grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
Donations can be made to Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University, Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri Botanical Garden, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Planned Parenthood.