Trey Trahan: Bridging Cultures, Building Community

This event was originally scheduled for December 2, 2025 and has been rescheduled to March 24, 2026.

Featuring acclaimed architect Trey Trahan In-Person.

New Orleans-based architecture firm Trahan Architects is known for their rooted approach to architecture—expressing the unique cultural, historical and ecological characteristics of the places they build. During frequent visits to Japan, Founder & CEO Trey Trahan, FAIA, has developed a passion and deep reverence for Japanese art and culture. Throughout his visits, he’s also discovered the numerous parallels between the shared ecologies of his native state of Louisiana and Japan that have permeated his firm’s approach to architecture. He and his firm have been celebrated for their depth of research, dedication to craft, sensitivity to the landscape and innovative material applications—all heavily influenced by Japanese traditions. 

When he was invited to interview for the design of the U.S.A. Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka, it was a dream come true. Having amassed a large collection of Japanese artifacts and artwork and developed many personal friendships over the years, his enthusiasm and connections won his firm the commission. Throughout the Expo’s six-month tenure, the U.S.A. Pavilion was consistently one of the most popular—drawing average crowds of 10,000 people per day and welcoming the world to experience the wonders of the United States of America through the narrative aesthetic lens of its host country. 

Tonight, Trey will guide us through how his relationship with Japanese sensibilities—embracing chance, focusing on materiality and exercising a quiet restraint—helped guide his firm’s design for the U.S.A. Pavilion and continues to resonate in their work.

About Trey Trahan
Founder and CEO of Trahan Architects, Victor F. “Trey” Trahan III, FAIA, is globally recognized for designs that exhibit technological innovation, material expression and a quiet sense of beauty. Trahan takes a rooted approach to architecture that considers the physical, cultural and social environments of each project and place. His work manifests peace, justice and community connection, reaching beyond the traditional bounds of architecture. Notable projects include The U.S.A. Pavilion for Expo 2025 in Osaka, the renovation of the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, The Alliance Theatre at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Louisiana Museum and Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches, Louisiana. 

Over the years, Trahan Architects’ innovative designs have garnered over 100 national, state, regional and local AIA awards. It has also been ranked the number one design firm in the U.S. by Architect 50, a national ranking of architecture firms published by Architect Magazine, the official magazine of the AIA.  

Parallel to his practice, Trahan is involved with various organizations and initiatives related to architecture, sustainability and preservation. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Cultural Landscape Foundation. As extensions and incubators of the firm’s ethos, he stewards of two conservation properties, in St. Francisville, Louisiana and Patagonia, Chile, exploring with a team of consultants, academics and experts how human occupation and ecologies are intertwined. Through their work and ethos-driven initiatives, Trahan and his firm are dedicated to exploring how architecture can reveal stories untold with humility and enduring vision.

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Image Credit: Expo 2025 U.S.A. Pavilion © Hufton+Crow

Japan Society Design Events are sponsored by BALMUDA.

Support for cultural programs is provided by the Sandy Heck Lecture Fund; Jean Fan Colson and Daniel Colson; and Faith L. Taylor.

Japan Society programs are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Japan Society’s 120th anniversary initiatives and related programs are generously supported by Champion Sponsor, MUFG Bank, Ltd.; Advocate Sponsor, Mizuho Americas; and Friend Sponsor, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas).