Archinect - Features

Gehry Prize Winners Reimagine Funerary Architecture

2022-12-12T18:12:00-05:00

Thesis projects aim to push students outside of their comfort zones and foster new versions of architectural thinking. For our latest installment of Archinect's Thesis Review series, SCI-Arc M.Arch graduates Ian Wong and Sue Choi discuss the architectural tones and typologies of cemeteries and funerary customs in their project, Earthly Passage.

Winners of the 2022 Gehry Prize for best thesis project, Wong and Choi explained, "Earthly Passage is a new model of funerary architecture." While their topic may seem unconventional, the duo explains the importance of exploring and respecting these spaces for the deceased. Their project exhibits a place for "funerals to take place, as well as subsequent visits," highlighting improved experiences for mourners to pay their respects. They continue by adding, "culturally, our thesis highlights a program or function of space/architecture that is often uncomfortable, or taboo, to talk about."

During this interview, they discuss their motivation to...

spatial practice on Becoming a Global Player as a Small Team

2021-04-07T08:18:00-04:00

spatial practice is a small Hong Kong-and-soon-to-be-Los Angeles-based collaborative partnership established by Dora Chi and Erik Amir. Initially founded in Beijing, the young firm very quickly gained exposure to projects of a scale that often remains reserved for more established offices.

In our latest Studio Snapshot, we had the pleasure of chatting with Chi and Amir about their journey so far, if and how the pandemic has impacted their operations throughout the past year, and what they look forward to with the opening of their new California studio.

In Focus: Peter Stewart and His Exploration Into the Architecturally Unreal

2019-05-26T11:38:00-04:00

In Focus is Archinect's recurring series dedicated to profiling the photographers who help capture architecture and who make the work of architects look that much better. In this series, we ask: What is their relationship to architecture? How do they work? What kind of equipment do they use? What are their goals when capturing buildings?

For this installment, Archinect chats with Australian architectural photographer Peter Stewart. Through extensive travel, Stewart has spent much time exploring South East Asia and experiencing its dense urban environments. After immersing himself within each culture and learning about the environments around him, Stewart has used his creative eye as a tool to capture photographs that follow themes of mass scale and repetition. Using a technical approach to photographing buildings, Stewart aims to blend the visual perspective with geometry and color to see the world through "the spaces between." An exploration into the "unreal" Stewart provides a mes...

Patrick Lam Discusses the Search for Complexity Through Simplicity

2019-05-13T12:04:00-04:00

Hong Kong is known for its skyscrapers and busy urban landscapes. However, within the dense complexity of the city architect Patrick Lam uses Hong Kong's crowded landscape as inspiration to creating simple design solutions for residential living. Skilled in both architecture and fine arts, Lam's design firm Sim-Plex taught him to think of every possibility a small space could offer.

For this week's Studio Snapshot, Archinect chats with Lam about art, living in Kowloon City, and what it means to expand the possibilities of limited space.

Founded by a Designer and an Architect/Chef, Hong Kong-based Studio openUU has an Unconventional Origin Story

2018-08-27T09:00:00-04:00

openUU—pronounced "open you, you"—is a small design practice led by Kevin Lim and Caroline Chou, who, having both spent time growing up in Asia and the United States, decided to go to Hong Kong to establish their firm in 2011. Kevin (who is the son of artist and architect William Lim) is a trained architect and chef with degrees from both Cornell and Le Cordon Bleu. Caroline, on the other hand, is an award-winning interior designer with an M.Arch from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Together, the two have combined their expertise to focus on space conversions and the Food & Beverage industry; their roster of projects includes mall renovations, warehouse transformations, art and light installations, traveling pop-up libraries and even their own restaurant, Mean Noodles, which the couple own and operate.

Touring some of the world's most attractive public housing projects

2016-08-09T09:24:00-04:00

Can affordable public housing be beautiful? It’s a question that for years was answered with indifference.

When designing for money breaks the bank architecture mold

2016-03-25T13:26:00-04:00

Think bank architecture and its associated headquarters and you may find yourself stultified by visions of doric columns, artless atriums, and bland corporate highrises. However, these six structures by prominent practitioners are a survey of the unusual and intriguing. Here’s what each financial institution says about its social/historical context, as well as the role of money at that time.

Art Basel comes to Hong Kong

2013-05-30T15:20:00-04:00

During the yearly art fair in Basel, Switzerland, the city is activated and reconfigured, and art is brought to the forefront of civic discourse. What, if any, impact could the fair have on daily life in a city of 7 million? How would this art world mega-event translate to the Hong Kong context?

In Focus: Ward Roberts

2011-12-20T13:28:08-05:00

In Focus is Archinect's series of features dedicated to profiling the photographers who help make the work of architects look that much better. What has attracted them to architecture? How do they work? What type of equipment do they use? What do they think about seeing their work in blogs?

In this feature, we talk to Australian photo artist Ward Roberts.