(b. Oakland, California)
Okazaki’s work centers around a creative practice of “making do.” Using found objects, ready-mades, off-the-shelf or cheap products, and discarded items, Okazaki seeks to amplify lesser-known narratives in our built environment and recover meaning in the ordinary and overlooked. Privileging tactics over strategies, his work is fundamentally rooted in a deep understanding of context, history, and site.
His research, writing, and projects have been featured in publications such as the Journal of Architectural Education and The Boston Art Review, and in galleries including Pao Arts Center, Gallery 263, and Galatea Fine Art. His public installation work has been exhibited at the Boston Public Library, the Charlestown Navy Yard, and in Cambridge, MA’s Central Square. In 2023, his outdoor installations for the Boston Public Library received two American Institute of Architects Design Excellence Awards, including the Roberta Feldman Architecture for Social Justice Award.
Okazaki’s work has been supported by the the Boston Public Art Triennial, The City of Boston, the Cambridge Arts Council, Cambridge’s Business Improvement District, the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM), Boston Public Library, Densho, the Wagner Foundation, and The Society of Architectural Historians.
His recent project, TORII, is part of the City of Boston’s “Un-monument | Re-monument | De-Monument: Transforming Boston," a program of temporary artworks, public talks, and engagement activities supported by the Mellon Foundation’s Monument Project.
Okazaki is a founding partner of Field Office LLC, and a principal at Architecture for Public Benefit, a benefit corporation providing design services for non-profit and mission-driven organizations in Greater Boston. He received a Master of Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from UCLA.
He is a Professor of Practice in Architecture in the History of Art and Architecture Department at Tufts University.
Architecture for Public Benefit
Field Office LLC
Tufts University
contact
okazaki.matthew@gmail.com \\