Iris You

Iris first approaches projects through photography as a mode of close observation. Seeing landscape through the camera lens allows her to reinterpret, recompose, and find existing beauty. Iris received a Masters of Archiecture from Yale School of Architecture. She first studied political science at the University of Pennsylvania and moved to Tokyo after graduation. Her interest in landscape architecture grew from the core principles of attentiveness to land she encountered there, working at Junya Ishigami and Kengo Kuma. More recently, she worked in art fabrication and exhibition design as the studio director of the artist Sarah Oppenheimer, whose sensorial, tactile, site-specific installation works furthered Iris’s interest in working at scales and sites beyond the traditional architectural discipline.

A landscape that Iris has been influenced by is, unexpectedly, the Meritt Parkway. She recently discovered the joy of driving, finding it to be meditative, and likes that the Meritt Parkway feels like a secret in comparison to the bustling I-95 running parallel. Iris also enjoys taking Bollywood Zumba classes, which pull her out of her comfort zone.