Kei'ichi Irie was born in 1950 in Tokyo. He holds a MA in Architecture (University of Fine Arts, Tokyo, 1976) and in 1980 he established Irie Architects and Associates and eight years later the company Power Unit Studio Co. Ltd.

He was responsible for the development of several houses and offices between 1980 and 1989 and his last two architectural projects are, in 1990, Monol, industrial apartments in collaboration with Sekisui House Co. Ltd. and in 1992, Ishiachi Dam Museum, Kumamoto Pref.

Included in his many design works are computer generated chairs called Lascaux (1988), several series of lamps (1988-1990) and Caravan (1991), a transportable space which was a project for Contemporary Arts Museum in Sydney.

In addition to being an architect of cultural, industrial and domestic buildings, Kei'ichi Irie has created large-scale interactive exhibitions in Japan and Europe, and has experimented for some years on the use of computers creatively to disrupt the architectural design process - an example of what he calls using machines against excessive rationality in design.

Kei'ichi Irie can be reached at
Power Unit Studio
12-1-2107, Sarugaku
Shibuya, Tokyo
fax: 81-3 34619829