Isabelle Asakura

Isabelle Asakura is an Associate Principal at Asakura Robinson with a multi-disciplinary background in science, design, and communication. She works at the intersection of urban design, landscape planning, and urban ecology to understand, synthesize, and visualize complex interactions among people, nature, and the built environment to develop engaging diagrams, maps, and renderings that bring projects to life.
As Director of Research and Innovation, Isabelle works across the firm to bring rigorous data and analysis to the forefront of planning recommendations and design solutions. She leads 3D computational design efforts for modeling, scripting, and digital fabrication.

Isabelle is particularly skilled at translating complex data and analysis into dynamic visualizations and graphics with a strong focus on storytelling. Within the firm, she oversees graphic standards from the firm’s branding, which she led the development of in 2019, to the development of project-specific logos, graphics, renderings, and reports for award-winning projects with clients such as the US EPA, City of Houston, and METRO.

She holds a Master’s in Architecture in Bio-Integrated Design with Merit from the University College of London Bartlett School of Architecture and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and Biology from Lewis and Clark College. Prior to obtaining her Master’s degree, Isabelle served as Marketing Manager for the firm.

Q&A

Where do you get your design inspiration from?
Biogeochemical cycles

If you could work on a project anywhere in the world where would it be?
Copenhagen

If you had a superpower to make a bigger impact on communities/ cities/ or environments what superpower would you have?
The ability to make everything tiny