Aric Chen

The book provides a privileged insight into how this groundbreaking architectural studio works, especially their innovative approach in which their primary inspiration is derived from the constraints of a given project, hence the subtitle, Inspired by constraints. It shows how XRANGE’s unconventional architecture places an emphasis on systemization and tactility, resulting in audacious but grounded and utterly unique buildings. To do so, it features texts by the principal architects, leading architecture critics, lavish documentation and photography, and in-depth examinations of such significant projects as The Wandering Walls, Ant Farm House, Stone Cloud, and many more.

Exploring design works ranging from furniture and temporary art installations to interior design and architecture by CL3, founded by William Lim, and related studios Lim + Lu and Open UU, this book presents a fresh consideration of the essence of contemporary Asian design and how it has evolved over the past few decades. The projects selected share a sensitivity to Asian qualities: a deep appreciation of site and context, craft and design details, with imaginative architectural responses delivering a reinterpretation of cultural heritage and traditions. The book includes a contextual essay by Hong Kong-based architecture critic and author Catherine Shaw, a foreword by architecture and design curator Aric Chen, and a chapter dedicated to conversations on the modern interpretation of eastern aesthetics and the unique experience of designing for a new Asia between William Lim, Swedish museum director, art critic and writer Lars Nittve, and Shanghai-based architect Lyndon Neri. The projects are presented in a clear, vibrant graphic style designed by William Lim and artist and graphic designer Stanley Wong, aka anothermountainman, to evoke an Asian quality. Each chapter includes a text by William Lim and features original conceptual sketches, photographs, floor plans, and drawings.

Drawing on a series of conversations and site visits to six recent groundbreaking projects, architecture writer Catherine Shaw describes how Beijing-based OPEN Architecture is reinventing and responding to China s complex and fast-changing cultural landscape with projects that mark a new era for contemporary Chinese cultural architecture. OPEN Architecture was founded in New York in 2003 by Li Hu and Huang Wenjing, while their Beijing office opened in 2008. From a contemporary art gallery buried beneath a sand dune to a sculptural open-air theatre in a remote mountain valley near the Great Wall, co-founders Li Hu and Huang Wenjing re-evaluate conventional Western assumptions about culture and design as they base each pioneering project on the needs and plea-sures of humanity within the context of diverse terrains and climates. In doing so, they not only consider how cultural architecture looks, but how it works. Projects are presented with commentary and contextual information as well as new analyses and archival material, including outstanding colour photography, plans and drawings, and exploratory sketches. This book provides a fresh perspective on contemporary cultural architecture and place making, hig-lighting the architects sources of inspiration, their challenges, and their construction methods, showing how each impactful project responds to China s distinctive context.

This rare personal insight into the influences and inspirations behind acclaimed Hong Kong designer and collector Alan Chan gives an intimate view of the collection of objects he has fastidiously assembled throughout his life, and the creative process they have informed. The pioneering, award-winning, and self-taught designer is known for his inventive and innovative designs. Effectively organised by theme, from tea to dragons, and with an emphasis on objects produced for China Trade, many of the elegant pieces photographed for this book showcase Chan s insatiably inquiring mind. They offer insights into how his passion for collecting drives his characteristically whimsical signature take on East and West, tradition and innovation, where there is always a twist of the unexpected. Part autobiography, part reflection on creativity, it is full of insights into Chan s remarkable design process, making it a treat for the eyes and a valuable resource for new and established designers alike.

This is an overview of the top 100 leading young designers working across Asia, selected by the co-founders of one of Asia’s foremost interior-design magazines, Design Anthology, based in Hong Kong. Featuring first-hand accounts from each designer, the book reveals their inspirations, collaborations and the challenges and opportunities presented as a young designer working in the region. The book includes photography of each designer’s work and will be a key resource for design professionals and enthusiasts, as well as all those interested in the contemporary Asian design scene.

Dror Benshetrit's massively successful design for brands like Tumi, Rosenthal, and Cappellini and his next phase of visionary large-scale projects are now assembled in this debut monograph. Since 2002, Dror Benshetrit has developed an interdisciplinary practice specializing in truly innovative design projects. His multifaceted approach to design at wildly varying scales and concepts encompass product design, interior design, graphic design, and architecture. In this survey of Dror Benshetrit's first fifteen years of practice, readers are introduced to an ingenious design practice that started with household objects and furniture, to a collaborator with top brands such as Tumi, Rosenthal, Cappellini, and Bentley, and has since evolved into a visionary architecture office. Dror Dreams showcases the evolution of the designer's work, reflecting the diversification of his practice over time and the profound results that stem from its holistic approach. Told in his own approachable voice, charting his path from impassioned novice to ambitious ideator, Dror shares the conceptual origins and process behind his projects, as well as marking successes, failures, and conclusions. Dror seeks to communicate the value of creativity without limitation, promote the importance of collaboration, and through example inspire tomorrow's designers to dream big.

"Design isn't about it marketing. It's about industrialisation." Michael Young. Michael Young has been designing award winning projects for over 20 years, including earphones, glassware, watches, bicycles, furniture, lighting and bags. Experimentation is a working method for Michael Young and the investigation of different resources his ultimate passion. Born in Sunderland, England, Young opened studios in Brussels and Hong Kong. For more than a decade, he has tested the most advanced and sophisticated processes, focusing on different kinds of material; but his aluminium projects are the ones that stand out for their uniqueness of approach and special twists. This book features not only Young's designs in aluminium - limited editions or mass-produced - also included are a selection of his most iconic projects from recent years.

A major new overview of 100 of the world’s best contemporary interior design projects, chosen by 10 of the world’s leaders in the design world.