Interview with Yung Ho Chang

domus: What innovations did you do in the Architecture programs at MIT? And how is it going?
Yung Ho Chang: After a year at MIT, I have come to the following working definition or direction for architectural design in our department. The statement is intended for “official announcements”:
Architectural Design at MIT: A Design of Connectivity
Architectural Design at MIT is situated within the multi-disciplinary context of the Department: of Architecture and closely connected thus should be explored along with the fields of building technology, computation, history theory criticism, …

UF Soft R&D Center consists of three inter-connected buildings. Two courtyards arise in between the buildings, which crete more touch of nature within the architecture buildings. The project focuses on the whole concept of the office, which embraces working, resting and communication functions. Instead of adoptiong the traditional office design, such as the design of corridors, which require its users to commute before the communication can take place , we design this office so that its structure supports communication an commutation to happen spontaneously. Corresponding to different team working styles …

The project is concerned mainly with two important issues relating to site: the first is the relationship between the architecture and surrounding environment, and the second is how to establish a relationship between local architectural tradition and local culture. The building sits on development-ready leveled land that once was part of the hillside on the university campus. The Research Education Building and the Museum form a wedge shaped composite section that juts into the land. The building mass, multiple roofs, and integrated windows blur the vertical and horizontal forms of …

Initially, the Great Cultural Revolution in the 1960’s China prepared me for critical thinking.However,I acquired a better understanding of criticality while studing and working in the United States or generally the West;thus , for me, what constituted criticality had perhaps a lot to do with the West I was experiencing or how it was defined at a given moment:
Criticality I
The first West that I encountered upon arrival in the United States was European Modern Art, from Marcel Duchamp’s visual art work to Flann O’Brian’s novels to Chantal Ackerman’s films.Within such …

The publishing house itself needs only three stories of space. Yet the lively real estate market in China and the high cost of land have driven the company to construct a twelve-story building and develop rental office space, conference and exhibition facilities, a hotel, restaurant, café, bookstore—even an art museum and an indoor basketball court. This hybrid use inspires and informs the architectural design: The structure is thus dissolved into three relatively independent micro-buildings. The publishing house is located on the top floor, with rental office space and commercial activities …

Villa Shizilin, Beijing, 2004
The client is a developer couple with two children and they have acquired a piece of land in the adjacency of the Ming Tombs outside Beijing to build a house with extensive programs from cinema to indoor swimming pool and with the intention to use the facilities also as a club.
The building site used to be an orchard for persimmon trees surrounded by mountains. To fully engage the sceneries in the area, the architecture design takes the rangefinder as concept and nine tapered spaces are oriented towards …