Originally from Arroyo Grande California, Margaret Ikeda has an understanding of the California agricultural landscape having grown up in an extended family of Japanese American farmers. She is a principal and co-founder of ASSEMBLY, an architectural office in Berkeley California since 1995. Inherent in the name ASSEMBLY is an understanding of relationships between physical materials and human desires explored through scales of work that range from furniture to five-story mixed-use buildings. As an educator, her current focus has been to give voice to older Nisei citizens (second-generation Japanese Americans) through exhibitions that facilitate multi-generational communication. This work has been integrated into architectural studios and cross disciplinary projects with students at California College of the Arts and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to engage a larger community about today’s civil liberties and immigration issues. These interests are linked to the practice through installations, digital exhibits and plans for a 1.5 acre legacy community center and garden to cultivate a common connection to the land and the values of a close- knit Central Coast agricultural community.