Born and raised in Japan, Atsuko has a background in Fine Arts, Design and Architecture. Her work has been exhibited at the Kyoto City Museum and Aichi Prefecture Museum in Japan. After graduating from UNM, she went to Washington, DC where she worked for Quinn Evans Architects on various historic renovation projects including: the J. F. Kennedy Center Opera House and Eisenhower Theater, the Library of Congress, and a variety of educational facilities and museums. She currently directs K-12 Design Education at Design Plus, as well as the Summer Design Studio at Albuquerque Academy. She has lectured and given workshops in both Europe and Japan. She has also published articles for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, the Japanese Magazines “Shinkenchiku” and “Nikkei Architecture” and the Architectural Institute of Japan.  She helped organize the first Alvar Aalto Academy’s workshop in Finland and she is one of the founding members of PLAYCE (an international organization devoted to architecture education for children). When she is not creating something fun, she enjoys cooking, skiing and has been learning to fly fish.