Randy Nishimura, AIA Emeritus

My series of blog posts about why #architecture is #AWESOME inspired by @1000awesome Neil Pasricha sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/search/label/A…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Why Libraries Matter. Libraries don’t ask for much. On May 19, Eugene’s libraries are asking for our continued support. Learn more about Measure 20‑381. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/04/why-li…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Iran’s Architectural Inheritance at Risk. Iran's #architecture belongs not only to Iranians but to all who believe that its erasure diminishes our shared inheritance. #IranWar sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/04/irans-…

Lates post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Can AI Recognize Living Structure? #AI may one day illuminate hidden patterns or diagnose coherence more reliably, but the deeper life of a building is unlikely to spring from software alone. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/04/can-ai…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Dwelling Before Design. We tend to assume that people construct buildings and then inhabit them. #Heidegger proposed the reverse: We do not dwell because we build. We build because we dwell. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/03/dwelli…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Anchovies, Bell Peppers, and Other Modest Truths. Most people have food preferences that stay with them. Mine happen to include #anchovies & bell peppers on #pizza. They are simply what I like, nothing more. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/03/anchov…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: How Company Alters the Measure of a Walk. My walks with friends have become less about getting from one point to another and more about the ground between them. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/03/how-co…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: A Shift in the Civic Landscape. What becomes of the former City Hall block now that the County's plan to locate a new courthouse there has evaporated? sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-shif…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Hope Is . . . #Architecture does not solve the larger forces shaping our time. It never has. But it does insist on a steady belief that the future is still worth shaping. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/03/hope-i…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet: Z. Eugene offers few buildings (perhaps none?) whose names begin with “Z.” Rather than force a tenuous fit, I’m ending the series with a conceptual entry: the Zone of Reflection. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/02/eugene…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Paying Attention to Place. Places reveal themselves in layers. Some register immediately; others take time, weather, and use to come into focus. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/02/paying…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Can an AI System Write Specifications? Exploring AI's limits in architectural specs: resemblance ≠ responsibility. Read more → @CSIConstruction #ConstructionSpecifications #AEC sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/02/can-ai…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: The Pace of a House. Some people remake their homes all at once; others move slowly, letting familiar things continue to serve while new ones find their place. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-pa…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: When Letters Become Landmarks. Civic wordmarks have become fixtures of contemporary urban branding—instantly recognizable, endlessly photographed, and often adopted as informal gathering points. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/01/when-l…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: A Lost Oregon Colossus. Even in a region I think I know well, significant pieces of its architectural past can still surface unexpectedly. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/01/a-lost…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: The Clarity and Ambition of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I first watched the slow, strange, mesmerizing film in 1968. Its clarity and ambition still astonish today, a touchstone for disciplined artistry. #Kubrick sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-cl…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Process Over Preciousness. In #design, as in much else, holding on too tightly to early ideas can keep you from discovering better ones, especially when letting go opens the door to something new. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2026/01/proces…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Notes on the Meaning of Life. As 2025 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on what has passed and what might lie ahead: What is the #meaning_of_life?sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2025/12/notes-…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet: Ya-Po-Ah Terrace rises 18 stories at the foot of Skinner Butte. Its name comes from a Kalapuya word meaning “high place,” a fitting description for Eugene’s tallest building. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2025/12/eugene…

Latest post from SW Oregon Architect Emeritus: My Own Season of #Christmas. The holiday gathers fragments of childhood, the warmth of community, and the moral imagination of its tales, shaping a season that still matters to me. sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2025/12/my-own…