Tao is a principal and serves as Chair of Design Culture on Sasaki’s Board of Directors and a board trustee on the firm’s non-profit arm — Sasaki Foundation. He is a leader of Sasaki’s strong global practice, and his work has been recognized by over 45 national and international awards, including ASLA, APA, SCUP, The Plan, WLA, and IFLA awards.
Trained as an ecologist and landscape architect, Tao is active in ecological design, striving to bridge the gap between practice and science. As well as being mindful and invested in creative expression, he seeks inspiration from science and always roots his design in a deep understanding of the socio-ecological context.
Tao is a strong advocate for critical thinking and independent research. He oversees Sasaki’s research initiatives and has led research and collaborations with academic institutes. He is well-published in peer-reviewed journals and design magazines and frequently speaks at conferences worldwide. Besides practice, he has taught landscape architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design and has been a regular lecturer and studio critic at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and various universities in the US and abroad.
About Sasaki:
Sasaki is headquartered in Boston, USA, with offices in New York, Denver, and Shanghai.
At Sasaki, we believe defining the future of place must be a collective, contextual, and values-driven exercise. Through our 70 years of practice, we have affirmed that diverse perspectives, blended disciplines, open exchange, deep engagement with clients and communities, commitment to history and context, curiosity about new ways of thinking and making, and expert facility with data and emerging technologies, together, will always unearth stronger design than one vision hewn by one author ever could.
Our practice was founded on the power and purpose of interdisciplinary design. Together, we are defining the future of place through Architecture, Interior Design, Planning & Urban Design, Space Planning, Landscape Architecture, Civil Engineering, Graphic Design, and Interdisciplinary Expertise. We are intentionally structured across a broad spectrum of services and expertise to address the complex problem sets our clients face. Each of our professional practice areas is recognized for design excellence at the international level. Together, we transcend the boundaries of singular disciplines to create integrated design solutions across scales, project typologies, and global contexts.