Hiroshi Okamoto is a member of the American Institute of Architects and a LEED Accredited Professional, licensed in New York and New Jersey. He graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1992 and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Master of Science degree in Architectural Studies in 2000.

From 1994-1998, Mr. Okamoto was employed with the Ushida Findlay Partnership in Japan, and with the Joint Venture of Nikken Sekkei, Tohata Gumi and RTKL International, on the Saitama Koiki Godochosha, the large-scale Tokyo decentralization project completed in 1998.

From 2001 to 2012, Mr. Okamoto worked with I. M. Pei on the Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (2001-2002); as a Designer, Site Representative and Construction Administrator of the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (2001–2008); and as the Project Architect of the Chapel at the Miho Institute of Aesthetics (2008-2012) in Shigaraki, Japan, I.M. Pei’s last project.  From 2008-2012, Mr. Okamoto was an independent design consultant and the Design Architect and Project Manager for the Museum of Islamic Art Park in Doha, where in collaboration with Richard Serra he designed, at the end of the manmade park peninsula, a cantilevered stone pier for Serra’s sculpture 7 (2011).

In 2010, Mr. Okamoto founded OLI Architecture PLLC and has been the design principal and project architect for the MuXin Art Museum (2011-2015), the Chengdu Silk Art Culture Museum (2012-2016), and the Museum of Islamic Art Renovation (2015-2017) in Doha, Qatar.  In 2018, after being featured in the reboot of BBC’s Civilizations, the MuXin Art Museum was listed in the Financial Times as one of Simon Schama’s 10 Forgotten Wonders of the World.  Other accolades won by the museum are:

• Winner of the 2016 AIANYS Award of Merit: Architecture/Institutional.
• Winner of the 2016 German Design Council Iconic Award Best of Best: Museum Architecture.
• Shortlist Finalist for the 2016 World Architecture Festival: Culture/Completed Buildings.
• Winner of the 2015 Concrete Industry Board Roger H. Corbetta Award of Merit: Out of Country.

Other notable projects Mr. Okamoto has led are: the Tencent Shanghai Cloud Services office design (2017-2018), the signage and environmental graphic design in collaboration with Pentagram for OMA’s Tencent Beijing HQ (2018), the retail concept designs for Amplitude (2018 – on going), the homegrown high-end cosmetic line launched by the Japanese cosmetic giant, POLA, which has been implemented in eleven of the most traffic retail locations in Japan; and the London Cross Pavilion (2015-2020): a purpose built private commission in Westchester NY, to house Richard Serra’s London Cross (2014), which was first shown in the Gagosian Gallery in London.  The Pavilion, another collaboration with Serra, was a 2021 World Architecture Festival Finalist, and the winner of the 2020 AIANY Projects Award of Merit). 

Recently completed and current ongoing projects Mr. Okamoto is working on are: the Ascentage Pharma R&D Headquarters (2018 – 2022), for the Hong Kong listed pharmaceutical company Ascentage, the design of the AnjiPlay Kindergarten and Early Childhood Education Center (2015 – Present), the Diageo Jade – Single Malt Whiskey Distillery and Visitor Center (2020 – Present), and The Passage of Time Art Park (2021 – Present), a 15.5 acre art park in NW Florida with a purpose built pavilion housing Richard Serra’s Passage of Time (2012).

Benjamin Gomez Arango is an architect with expertise in residential, collective housing, civic, and public architecture. He has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Pontificia Bolivariana University and an M.S. in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. With over 6 years of professional experience, Benjamin has worked on projects in both South and North America. He joined OLI Architecture in 2021 and is currently based in New York City.

Kojo is an architectural designer with nearly 5 years of relevant experience in designing and realizing built work. With a diverse cultural background spanning from Africa through Europe to North America, his design ethos reflects and draws from these experiences to create multicultural and inclusive designs. He holds a Master of Architecture from Syracuse University, USA and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from KNUST, Ghana.

Chunxin received her Master of Architecture from Rhode Island School of Design in 2022. Previously, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art from Oberlin College, where she explored her fascination with cultural background and bodily experience in the format of installations. She transitioned to pursue architecture with an ambition of creating socially responsible space from an intimate perspective. She is most interested in investigating the interactive and experiential nature of public architecture and its dialogue with the natural and urban landscape.