Ken Yeang
Encyclopedia
Dr. Ken Yeang [Chinese]: 杨经文/楊經文; [pinyin]: Yáng Jīngwén; born 1948) is a prolific Malaysian architect and writer best known for advancing green design and planning, differentiated from other green architects by his comprehensive ecological approach.
He is a principal of T. R. Hamzah and Yeang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (since 1975) formed with Tengku Datuk Robert Hamzah (his friend and contemporary at the AA School and a Prince in the Malay Royal family), and further became Design Director (in 2005 and subsequently Chairman in 2010) of the venerable UK firm of Llewelyn Davies which rebranded itself as Llewelyn Davies Yeang, headquartered in London (UK) as the sister firm of T. R. Hamzah and Yeang (Malaysia). T. R. Hamzah and Yeang has offices in China as North Hamzah Yeang Architectural and Engineering Company with branch offices in Beijing, Shenzen, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing. T. R. Hamzah and Yeang was cited in the US magazine, Fast Company (March 2011) as among the top 8 most innovative architect firms in the world.
Yeang is an early pioneer of ecological design and planning, carrying out research and design work in this field from 1971 and is widely regarded by his fellow ecodesign peers as a ‘guru’ of green design.
What is relevant and differentiates Yeang's work from other ecodesigners is his authentic ecological approach. Whereas others are based on rating systems (e.g. LEED, BREEAM, etc.) or on ecoengineering (cleantech, carbon neutral, ‘Living Building Challenge’, etc.), his is ecology based, an approach founded on the contention that ecodesign or ecological design should be derived from ecological principles being an obvious endeavour. This approach and his designs focused on evolving an eco aesthetic for green buildings and masterplans, set him apart from other ecodesigners and ecocity planners.
Yeang has designed buildings, masterplans and ecocities worldwide including London, Singapore, Kuwait, Canada, China, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, USA, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, UK, Malaysia and China.
As an experienced architect (professionally registered since 1972) he has designed and seen to completion over a dozen skyscrapers, several thousand terrace houses, over two million sq.ft. interior design and built over a hundred projects of all types.
Yeang’s early theoretical work on ecological design are presented in his book, Designing with Nature (1995 McGraw-Hill). His early work is in applying bioclimatic principles as passive-mode low-energy design (as a subset of ecodesign) which subsequently became the armature for his ecologically sustainable agenda.
Early experiments include his own house, the Roof-Roof House in Kuala Lumpur (1985), that has a louvered umbrella structure as an 'environmental filter' over the building.
Yeang early focus was in applying bioclimatic and passive-mode principles to skyscraper design. He is credited as the inventor of the bioclimatic skyscraper, largely the result of his book, The Skyscraper: Bioclimatically Considered (1997, John Wiley & Sons), which he further advanced in his sequel, Reinventing the Skyscraper: A Vertical Theory of Urban Design (2002 John Wiley & Sons). University of Washington Professor Udo Kulterman states, “..Professor Ken Yeang is internationally renowned as the 'father' of the 'sustainable bioclimatic building..'". He then applied these early bioclimatic experiments to other low-rise and to high-rise intensive building types.
.
Yeang applies concepts of ecodesign to all of his architectural and planning work. Through constant experimentation over many decades Yeang developed an international reputation as a pioneer, advocate, and innovator of authentic ecological design. By the mid 1990’s private and public clients around the world have selected him for their signature ecomasterplans and architectural ecodesigned projects.
He work is characterised by being ideas-driven and each project usually expounds one or more of his ecological design devices or ideas such as: the ecobridge and ecoundercroft, the ecocell, the linked green ecoinfrastructure and others. His recent work investigates 'ecomimicry' as designing human built environments as artificial ecosystems that mimick the properties and attributes of ecosystems. ‘Ecomimicry’ is a term he is regarded to have invented and adapted from ‘biomimicry’. This work is developed from his early research work on bionics (in his Cambridge doctoral dissertation on 1974). All of Yeang’s architectural ecodesigns and masterplans seek a connectivity (ecological nexus) within each builtform and with the landscape, and seek a benign biointegration between human activities, the built environment and the surrounding ecosystems. He draws an analogy here in designing for biointegration of our synthetic constructed systems with their host organism, with prosthesis design in surgery.
The current environmental concerns have produced a generation of architects and engineers who approach “green” design and construction through ecoengineering or simply through compliance to green accreditation systems. To Yeang, these practices while relevant and progressive, do not constitute authentic “green” design comprehensively nor in totality.
As Yeang stated in his Cambridge University PhD dissertation in the 1970s, “It is easy to be misled or seduced by technology and to think that if we assemble enough eco-gadgetry in the form of solar collectors, photovoltaic cells, biological recycling systems, building-automation systems and double-skin facades in one single building that this can automatically be considered ecological architecture. Although these technologies are commendable applications of ecoengineering systems, they are merely useful components leading towards an ecological architecture; they represent some of the means of achieving an ecological end product. Ecological design is not just about cleantech or ecoengineering or carbon neutral systems; to be fully effective, these ecotechnologies need to be thoroughly integrated into the building fabric, influenced by the ecological, climatic and physical conditions of the site. The nature of the problem is therefore situational and site specific. There will never be a standard “one solution that fits all.”
Yeang defines ecodesign as achieving a benign and seamless biointegration of the built environment with the natural environment, that include reduced or zero dependency on non-renewable sources of energy, enhanced ecological nexus through devices such as eco-land bridges, ecoundercrofts, vertical landscaping, ecocells, green living walls, sustainable drainage, constructed wetlands, ecological corridors and fingers (which reach out in an ecological nexus into the landscape hinterland and upwards within built systems), minimization of disruptions with the adjoining ecosystems, maintaining the sensitive ecobalance, and enhancing urban biodiversity.
Some of the technical devices he uses in his buitforms include light shelves, light pipes, green skycourts, vertically-linked green atriums (open and enclosed), windscoops, etc. His most recent advances include the setting of biodiversity targets with the creation of new habitats within his builtforms and their surrounds by designing these as 'living systems'.
Many might mistake Yeang’s work as simply putting vegetation in buildings or just creating an ecological nexus within his builtforms to enhance local biodiversity, but Yeang’s work does much more than just that. What is unique in his design work is that he designs his buildings and masterplans as constructed ecosystems by creating new habitats within the developments and selectively matching native species with these constructed habitats in setting ‘biodiversity targets’, and then creating physical conditions within these habitats to enable these to survive over the four seasons of the year. By achieving this, his designs become more than just ‘vertical landscaped architecture’ but are constructed ‘living systems’ (See pages 252-253 in Hart, Sara (2011), Ecoarchitecture – The Work of Ken Yeang, Publ. John Wiley & Sons, UK).
A platform for ecomasterplanning that was developed by Yeang is the establishing through design, a total living system that is both interactive and functional with the biointegration of four ecoinfrastructural armatures into an overall coherent system: 1) the green infrastructure which includes nature’s corridors and networks that link open spaces and the various habitats for fauna and flora, urban food production, natural resource management, all of which he describes as 'nature's utilities'; 2) the grey infrastructure which includes sustainable ecoengineering cleantech systems such as sustainable transportation/movement systems, sustainable sewage systems, materials recycling and ‘designing for disassembly’, enclosures, hardscapes and other green engineering utilities; 3) blue infrastructure which encompasses hydrological management, water conservation, grey water reuse. rainwater harvesting, sustainable drainage, bioswales, filtration strips, detention ponds as storm water management; 4) red infrastructure being human societies which includes creating sustainable ways of life, providing new food systems, changing existent socio-economic, industrial and political systems into sustainable systems. This novel approach to ecodesign and ecomasterplanning provides a general framework that allows an inclusiveness of constantly changing complex factors but with a flexibility that allows for obsolescence. (See page 18 in Hart, Sara (2011), Ecoarchitecture – The Work of Ken Yeang, Publ. John Wiley & Sons, UK).
In his Cambridge doctoral dissertation, Yeang developed a comprehensive theoretical model defining the key factors in ecodesign, presented in the form of a General Systems 'interactions model' using a mathematical partitioned matrix. His PhD dissertation has been published as, Designing with Nature, (Yeang, K., 1995, McGrrw-Hill, NY, USA). The theoretical model provides the guiding framework for all of Yeang's work.
The US magazine, Architectural Record states that, '..Yeang has done more in developing the theoretical aspects of ecodesign than anyone else in this field..'. It is this underlying theoretical rigorousness in his design work, in addition to their many other architectural qualities that gives the critical substance to Yeang's work, absent in the work of others.
This is an aspect of ecodesign that is close to Yeang’s heart being the development of an eco aesthetic. Yeangs contends that aesthetically, ecoarchitecture and ecomasterplans demand their own 'style'. They should not look like existent architecture and masterplans. This may be Yeang’s other major contribution to this field being his relentless pursuit of an 'ecological aesthetic'. It is this eco aesthetic that is motivating in Yeang’s work.
Because ecodesign in the 1970s did not have the benefit of prior research or academic theoretical models and frameworks, Yeang early years involved doing empirical research, investigative design, and experimental studies of ecological processes that could be replicated in humanmade structures. His early research work can be found in his several key books including, Designing with Nature (1995 McGraw-Hill), The Skyscraper, Bioclimatically Considered: A Design Primer (1997 John Wiley & Sons)), The Green Skyscraper: The Basis for Designing Sustainable Intensive Buildings (1999 Prestel), Reinventing the Skyscraper: A Vertical Theory of Urban Design (2002 John Wiley & Sons), Ecodesign: A Manual for Ecological Design (2006 Wiley-Academy), Eco-Masterplanning (2009 John Wiley & Sons), Eco Design Dictionary (an Illustrated Reference with co-author Lillian Woo) (2009, Taylor and Francis, London). He is currently researching his next book, Ecomimesis: Bases for Designing the Built Environment, based on mimicking the ecological properties and attributes of ecosystems (Taylor and Francis, UK).
Few architects design, build, teach, research and write – Yeang’s does does all these prolifically and these in aggregate sets him apart from other green architects.
There have also been several monographs authored by others on Yeang’s work since 1989 (Robert Powell, Leon van Schaik, Ivor Richards and others). The most recent is, Ecoarchitecture – The Work of Ken Yeang (authored by Sara Hart, 2011, John Wiley & Sons).
Yeang has lectured at many schools of architecture and conferences in over 30 countries. He is the Distinguished Plym Professor (University of Illinois at Urbana), and has been the Professor of Practice (Texas A & M University); the Graham Willis Professor (University of Sheffield), Provost’s Distinguished Visiting Scholar (University of Southern California); Advisory Professor (Tongji University, Shanghai), Honorary Professor (University of Hong Kong) and Adjunct Professor (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, University of Hawaii, University of New South Wales, Curtin University, University of Malaya, Deakin University); and Visiting Eminent Scholar (Florida Atlantic University).
He has also mentored senior students at workshops at the University of Hong Kong (China); University of Nebraska; Louisiana State University; Illinois Institute of Technology, Florida Atlantic University, (USA); University of Cardiff (Wales); University of Sheffield (UK); University of Newcastle (UK), Deakin University; Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, University of New South Wales (Australia) and National University of Singapore.
His new ecoaesthetic does not have the shape or form that in any way resembles existent architectural styles. His aesthetic might be regarded as an independent style that encompasses ecodesign holistically through an understanding of ecological systems and processes. This is an authentic ecological aesthetic whose shapes and forms combine and incorporate building features that have a nexus with adjoining ecosystems, that harmonise with the site’s ecology, minimize polluting emissions and other negative consequences, and are more energy and water efficient and carbon neutral than conventional buildings. Yeang demonstrates that ecodesigned buildings and ecomasterplans can have a green aesthetic of their own.
This has won praise from users of his structures. This assessment has been underscored by architects, critics, and design award juries.
Yeang’s recent new projects exemplify the maturing of Yeang’s design work with a growing complexity and confidence in creating an ecoarchitecture with an evident ecoaesthetic that defines and becomes his own independent architectural style. With their high level of verdant landscape in his builtforms (sometimes placed internally in his projects in temperate and cold climates), his ecoaesthetic style is sometimes described by his colleagues as 'indeterminate', 'hairy', 'constructed habitats'.
Yeang has received many awards for his work since 1989 (over 35) including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (for his Menara Mesiniaga, an IBM franchise), the Prince Claus Award (Netherlands), the UIA (International Union of Architects) August Perret Award, the Gold Medal of the Malaysian Institute of Architects (2011), the WACA (World Association of Chinese Architects) Gold Medal (for the Solaris Building, 2011), the Government of Malaysia’s award of ‘Danjah Mulia Pangkuan Negen (DMPN) in 2003 that carries with it the official title of ‘Dato’ (generally regarded as the Malaysian equivalent of the UK’s OBE), the prestigious Merdeka Award (for the 'environment' category) in 2011 (generally regarded by the Malaysian government as its national equivalent to the Nobel prize).
Yeang has designed over 200 projects since 1975. His benchmark buildings and projects include:
▪ The Roof Roof House - Kuala Lumpur (l985) – his own experimental bioclimatic house that rethought the idea of bioclimatic responses to passive-mode low energy building design.
▪ Menara Mesiniaga Tower - Selangor, Malaysia (l992) - bioclimatic tower that exemplifies Yeang’s key principles for the design of the bioclimatic skyscraper, which received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the RAIA Award for International projects, the Malaysian institute of Architects Award.
▪ Kowloon Waterfront Masterplan - Hong Kong (c. 1998) - green masterplan with the novel use of green ecoinfrastructures and ecocells.
▪ National Library of Singapore (2005) - green accredited tower that received the Green Mark Platinum Award 2005, and the Singapore Institute of Architects Award.
▪ Soma Masterplan - Bangalore, India (2006) - signature ecomasterplan that espouses the idea of masterplanning as the integration of the four ecoinfrastructure.
▪ DiGi Technical Office - Kuala Lumpur (2010) - advances the idea of an ecowall as a nexus of greenery linking all the facades of the building, which received the Malaysian Institute of Architects Award (Commendation) 2010 and Green Index Gold rating.
▪ Solaris - Singapore (2010) - that has the innovative 1.5 km long 'Vertical :Linear Park' that wraps itself around the tower’s edge, which received the SIngapore Institute of Architects Award (Commendation) 2011, the Malaysian institute of Architects Gold Award 2011, the WACA (World Association of Chinese Architects) Gold Medal 2011 and Green Mark Platinum rating.
▪ Spire Edge Tower – (Gurgaon, Haryana, India), under construction with anticipated completion 2012, a signature tower that espouses the idea of a vertical green ecoinfeastructure, and rated LEED Platinum.
▪ Ganadra Art House (PJ, Malaysia) 2011, which received the Malaysian Institute of Architects Award (Commendation) 2010.
▪ The Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital Extension – London, UK 2012 (under construction), rated BREEAM excellent.
Yeang and his ecodesigns have been featured in a number of special broadcasts, including BBC television and radio, NHK (Japan), Asia Discovery Channel (Asia), US PBS (Public Broadcasting System) ‘design=e2’ (in which he was specifically identified as one of three architects in the world who have the greatest influence on ecodesign). The 5 January 2008 magazine of the UK Guardian newspaper referred to Yeang as 'one of the 50 People who could save the Planet’,
• Ganendra Art House 2010
Current projects under construction
Current projects
• Phase 2C5 Putrajaya, Malaysia,
• LGT Tower, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Life and career
Born in 1948 in Penang (Pulau Pinang), Malaysia, Yeang attended Penang Free School and Cheltenham Boys College in Gloucestershire, UK, obtained his first qualification in architecture from the Architectural Association School in London, and received a PhD in ecological design and planning from Cambridge University for a dissertation entitled, A Theoretical Framework for Incorporating Ecological Considerations in the Design and Planning of the Built Environment.He is a principal of T. R. Hamzah and Yeang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (since 1975) formed with Tengku Datuk Robert Hamzah (his friend and contemporary at the AA School and a Prince in the Malay Royal family), and further became Design Director (in 2005 and subsequently Chairman in 2010) of the venerable UK firm of Llewelyn Davies which rebranded itself as Llewelyn Davies Yeang, headquartered in London (UK) as the sister firm of T. R. Hamzah and Yeang (Malaysia). T. R. Hamzah and Yeang has offices in China as North Hamzah Yeang Architectural and Engineering Company with branch offices in Beijing, Shenzen, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing. T. R. Hamzah and Yeang was cited in the US magazine, Fast Company (March 2011) as among the top 8 most innovative architect firms in the world.
Yeang is an early pioneer of ecological design and planning, carrying out research and design work in this field from 1971 and is widely regarded by his fellow ecodesign peers as a ‘guru’ of green design.
What is relevant and differentiates Yeang's work from other ecodesigners is his authentic ecological approach. Whereas others are based on rating systems (e.g. LEED, BREEAM, etc.) or on ecoengineering (cleantech, carbon neutral, ‘Living Building Challenge’, etc.), his is ecology based, an approach founded on the contention that ecodesign or ecological design should be derived from ecological principles being an obvious endeavour. This approach and his designs focused on evolving an eco aesthetic for green buildings and masterplans, set him apart from other ecodesigners and ecocity planners.
Yeang has designed buildings, masterplans and ecocities worldwide including London, Singapore, Kuwait, Canada, China, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, USA, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, UK, Malaysia and China.
As an experienced architect (professionally registered since 1972) he has designed and seen to completion over a dozen skyscrapers, several thousand terrace houses, over two million sq.ft. interior design and built over a hundred projects of all types.
Yeang’s early theoretical work on ecological design are presented in his book, Designing with Nature (1995 McGraw-Hill). His early work is in applying bioclimatic principles as passive-mode low-energy design (as a subset of ecodesign) which subsequently became the armature for his ecologically sustainable agenda.
Early experiments include his own house, the Roof-Roof House in Kuala Lumpur (1985), that has a louvered umbrella structure as an 'environmental filter' over the building.
Yeang early focus was in applying bioclimatic and passive-mode principles to skyscraper design. He is credited as the inventor of the bioclimatic skyscraper, largely the result of his book, The Skyscraper: Bioclimatically Considered (1997, John Wiley & Sons), which he further advanced in his sequel, Reinventing the Skyscraper: A Vertical Theory of Urban Design (2002 John Wiley & Sons). University of Washington Professor Udo Kulterman states, “..Professor Ken Yeang is internationally renowned as the 'father' of the 'sustainable bioclimatic building..'". He then applied these early bioclimatic experiments to other low-rise and to high-rise intensive building types.
.
Theoretical basis of work and impact on architecture and the environment
Ken Yeang is regarded by his ecodesigner peers as a man ahead of his time. He recognized 40 years ago that environmental devastation, global warming and increased contamination of the environment would adversely affect the natural balance, biodiversity of ecosystems and biospheric processes (e.g. climate change). Starting with the ecology-based approach to landuse planning of one of his mentors, the landscape architect Professor Ian McHarg (University of Pennsylvania), Yeang then successfully advanced and extended McHarg’s principles into architectural design. This might be regarded as Yeang's most important contribution to this field of endeavour.Yeang applies concepts of ecodesign to all of his architectural and planning work. Through constant experimentation over many decades Yeang developed an international reputation as a pioneer, advocate, and innovator of authentic ecological design. By the mid 1990’s private and public clients around the world have selected him for their signature ecomasterplans and architectural ecodesigned projects.
He work is characterised by being ideas-driven and each project usually expounds one or more of his ecological design devices or ideas such as: the ecobridge and ecoundercroft, the ecocell, the linked green ecoinfrastructure and others. His recent work investigates 'ecomimicry' as designing human built environments as artificial ecosystems that mimick the properties and attributes of ecosystems. ‘Ecomimicry’ is a term he is regarded to have invented and adapted from ‘biomimicry’. This work is developed from his early research work on bionics (in his Cambridge doctoral dissertation on 1974). All of Yeang’s architectural ecodesigns and masterplans seek a connectivity (ecological nexus) within each builtform and with the landscape, and seek a benign biointegration between human activities, the built environment and the surrounding ecosystems. He draws an analogy here in designing for biointegration of our synthetic constructed systems with their host organism, with prosthesis design in surgery.
The current environmental concerns have produced a generation of architects and engineers who approach “green” design and construction through ecoengineering or simply through compliance to green accreditation systems. To Yeang, these practices while relevant and progressive, do not constitute authentic “green” design comprehensively nor in totality.
As Yeang stated in his Cambridge University PhD dissertation in the 1970s, “It is easy to be misled or seduced by technology and to think that if we assemble enough eco-gadgetry in the form of solar collectors, photovoltaic cells, biological recycling systems, building-automation systems and double-skin facades in one single building that this can automatically be considered ecological architecture. Although these technologies are commendable applications of ecoengineering systems, they are merely useful components leading towards an ecological architecture; they represent some of the means of achieving an ecological end product. Ecological design is not just about cleantech or ecoengineering or carbon neutral systems; to be fully effective, these ecotechnologies need to be thoroughly integrated into the building fabric, influenced by the ecological, climatic and physical conditions of the site. The nature of the problem is therefore situational and site specific. There will never be a standard “one solution that fits all.”
Yeang defines ecodesign as achieving a benign and seamless biointegration of the built environment with the natural environment, that include reduced or zero dependency on non-renewable sources of energy, enhanced ecological nexus through devices such as eco-land bridges, ecoundercrofts, vertical landscaping, ecocells, green living walls, sustainable drainage, constructed wetlands, ecological corridors and fingers (which reach out in an ecological nexus into the landscape hinterland and upwards within built systems), minimization of disruptions with the adjoining ecosystems, maintaining the sensitive ecobalance, and enhancing urban biodiversity.
Some of the technical devices he uses in his buitforms include light shelves, light pipes, green skycourts, vertically-linked green atriums (open and enclosed), windscoops, etc. His most recent advances include the setting of biodiversity targets with the creation of new habitats within his builtforms and their surrounds by designing these as 'living systems'.
Many might mistake Yeang’s work as simply putting vegetation in buildings or just creating an ecological nexus within his builtforms to enhance local biodiversity, but Yeang’s work does much more than just that. What is unique in his design work is that he designs his buildings and masterplans as constructed ecosystems by creating new habitats within the developments and selectively matching native species with these constructed habitats in setting ‘biodiversity targets’, and then creating physical conditions within these habitats to enable these to survive over the four seasons of the year. By achieving this, his designs become more than just ‘vertical landscaped architecture’ but are constructed ‘living systems’ (See pages 252-253 in Hart, Sara (2011), Ecoarchitecture – The Work of Ken Yeang, Publ. John Wiley & Sons, UK).
A platform for ecomasterplanning that was developed by Yeang is the establishing through design, a total living system that is both interactive and functional with the biointegration of four ecoinfrastructural armatures into an overall coherent system: 1) the green infrastructure which includes nature’s corridors and networks that link open spaces and the various habitats for fauna and flora, urban food production, natural resource management, all of which he describes as 'nature's utilities'; 2) the grey infrastructure which includes sustainable ecoengineering cleantech systems such as sustainable transportation/movement systems, sustainable sewage systems, materials recycling and ‘designing for disassembly’, enclosures, hardscapes and other green engineering utilities; 3) blue infrastructure which encompasses hydrological management, water conservation, grey water reuse. rainwater harvesting, sustainable drainage, bioswales, filtration strips, detention ponds as storm water management; 4) red infrastructure being human societies which includes creating sustainable ways of life, providing new food systems, changing existent socio-economic, industrial and political systems into sustainable systems. This novel approach to ecodesign and ecomasterplanning provides a general framework that allows an inclusiveness of constantly changing complex factors but with a flexibility that allows for obsolescence. (See page 18 in Hart, Sara (2011), Ecoarchitecture – The Work of Ken Yeang, Publ. John Wiley & Sons, UK).
In his Cambridge doctoral dissertation, Yeang developed a comprehensive theoretical model defining the key factors in ecodesign, presented in the form of a General Systems 'interactions model' using a mathematical partitioned matrix. His PhD dissertation has been published as, Designing with Nature, (Yeang, K., 1995, McGrrw-Hill, NY, USA). The theoretical model provides the guiding framework for all of Yeang's work.
The US magazine, Architectural Record states that, '..Yeang has done more in developing the theoretical aspects of ecodesign than anyone else in this field..'. It is this underlying theoretical rigorousness in his design work, in addition to their many other architectural qualities that gives the critical substance to Yeang's work, absent in the work of others.
Architecture, the built environment, and humanity: contributions and impact
Yeang’s single minded pursuit of ecodesign and ecomasterplanning and their aesthetics through his designs, masterplans, built work, research and theoretical work, and writings for close to four decades have influenced countless architects and professionals in a wide range of fields not just in the way they approach design, planning and the natural environment but aesthetically – on what a green building and masterplan should look like?This is an aspect of ecodesign that is close to Yeang’s heart being the development of an eco aesthetic. Yeangs contends that aesthetically, ecoarchitecture and ecomasterplans demand their own 'style'. They should not look like existent architecture and masterplans. This may be Yeang’s other major contribution to this field being his relentless pursuit of an 'ecological aesthetic'. It is this eco aesthetic that is motivating in Yeang’s work.
Because ecodesign in the 1970s did not have the benefit of prior research or academic theoretical models and frameworks, Yeang early years involved doing empirical research, investigative design, and experimental studies of ecological processes that could be replicated in humanmade structures. His early research work can be found in his several key books including, Designing with Nature (1995 McGraw-Hill), The Skyscraper, Bioclimatically Considered: A Design Primer (1997 John Wiley & Sons)), The Green Skyscraper: The Basis for Designing Sustainable Intensive Buildings (1999 Prestel), Reinventing the Skyscraper: A Vertical Theory of Urban Design (2002 John Wiley & Sons), Ecodesign: A Manual for Ecological Design (2006 Wiley-Academy), Eco-Masterplanning (2009 John Wiley & Sons), Eco Design Dictionary (an Illustrated Reference with co-author Lillian Woo) (2009, Taylor and Francis, London). He is currently researching his next book, Ecomimesis: Bases for Designing the Built Environment, based on mimicking the ecological properties and attributes of ecosystems (Taylor and Francis, UK).
Few architects design, build, teach, research and write – Yeang’s does does all these prolifically and these in aggregate sets him apart from other green architects.
There have also been several monographs authored by others on Yeang’s work since 1989 (Robert Powell, Leon van Schaik, Ivor Richards and others). The most recent is, Ecoarchitecture – The Work of Ken Yeang (authored by Sara Hart, 2011, John Wiley & Sons).
Yeang has lectured at many schools of architecture and conferences in over 30 countries. He is the Distinguished Plym Professor (University of Illinois at Urbana), and has been the Professor of Practice (Texas A & M University); the Graham Willis Professor (University of Sheffield), Provost’s Distinguished Visiting Scholar (University of Southern California); Advisory Professor (Tongji University, Shanghai), Honorary Professor (University of Hong Kong) and Adjunct Professor (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, University of Hawaii, University of New South Wales, Curtin University, University of Malaya, Deakin University); and Visiting Eminent Scholar (Florida Atlantic University).
He has also mentored senior students at workshops at the University of Hong Kong (China); University of Nebraska; Louisiana State University; Illinois Institute of Technology, Florida Atlantic University, (USA); University of Cardiff (Wales); University of Sheffield (UK); University of Newcastle (UK), Deakin University; Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, University of New South Wales (Australia) and National University of Singapore.
Architectural design: contributions and impact
Ken Yeang has created outstanding designs throughout his 40 year professional career and continues to develop his original and fresh approach to the forms and systems of his buildings while pursing theoretical and technical advancements, in tandem with pursing an architectural style for ecodesign – as a new “green” aesthetic.His new ecoaesthetic does not have the shape or form that in any way resembles existent architectural styles. His aesthetic might be regarded as an independent style that encompasses ecodesign holistically through an understanding of ecological systems and processes. This is an authentic ecological aesthetic whose shapes and forms combine and incorporate building features that have a nexus with adjoining ecosystems, that harmonise with the site’s ecology, minimize polluting emissions and other negative consequences, and are more energy and water efficient and carbon neutral than conventional buildings. Yeang demonstrates that ecodesigned buildings and ecomasterplans can have a green aesthetic of their own.
This has won praise from users of his structures. This assessment has been underscored by architects, critics, and design award juries.
Yeang’s recent new projects exemplify the maturing of Yeang’s design work with a growing complexity and confidence in creating an ecoarchitecture with an evident ecoaesthetic that defines and becomes his own independent architectural style. With their high level of verdant landscape in his builtforms (sometimes placed internally in his projects in temperate and cold climates), his ecoaesthetic style is sometimes described by his colleagues as 'indeterminate', 'hairy', 'constructed habitats'.
Yeang has received many awards for his work since 1989 (over 35) including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (for his Menara Mesiniaga, an IBM franchise), the Prince Claus Award (Netherlands), the UIA (International Union of Architects) August Perret Award, the Gold Medal of the Malaysian Institute of Architects (2011), the WACA (World Association of Chinese Architects) Gold Medal (for the Solaris Building, 2011), the Government of Malaysia’s award of ‘Danjah Mulia Pangkuan Negen (DMPN) in 2003 that carries with it the official title of ‘Dato’ (generally regarded as the Malaysian equivalent of the UK’s OBE), the prestigious Merdeka Award (for the 'environment' category) in 2011 (generally regarded by the Malaysian government as its national equivalent to the Nobel prize).
Yeang has designed over 200 projects since 1975. His benchmark buildings and projects include:
▪ The Roof Roof House - Kuala Lumpur (l985) – his own experimental bioclimatic house that rethought the idea of bioclimatic responses to passive-mode low energy building design.
▪ Menara Mesiniaga Tower - Selangor, Malaysia (l992) - bioclimatic tower that exemplifies Yeang’s key principles for the design of the bioclimatic skyscraper, which received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the RAIA Award for International projects, the Malaysian institute of Architects Award.
▪ Kowloon Waterfront Masterplan - Hong Kong (c. 1998) - green masterplan with the novel use of green ecoinfrastructures and ecocells.
▪ National Library of Singapore (2005) - green accredited tower that received the Green Mark Platinum Award 2005, and the Singapore Institute of Architects Award.
▪ Soma Masterplan - Bangalore, India (2006) - signature ecomasterplan that espouses the idea of masterplanning as the integration of the four ecoinfrastructure.
▪ DiGi Technical Office - Kuala Lumpur (2010) - advances the idea of an ecowall as a nexus of greenery linking all the facades of the building, which received the Malaysian Institute of Architects Award (Commendation) 2010 and Green Index Gold rating.
▪ Solaris - Singapore (2010) - that has the innovative 1.5 km long 'Vertical :Linear Park' that wraps itself around the tower’s edge, which received the SIngapore Institute of Architects Award (Commendation) 2011, the Malaysian institute of Architects Gold Award 2011, the WACA (World Association of Chinese Architects) Gold Medal 2011 and Green Mark Platinum rating.
▪ Spire Edge Tower – (Gurgaon, Haryana, India), under construction with anticipated completion 2012, a signature tower that espouses the idea of a vertical green ecoinfeastructure, and rated LEED Platinum.
▪ Ganadra Art House (PJ, Malaysia) 2011, which received the Malaysian Institute of Architects Award (Commendation) 2010.
▪ The Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital Extension – London, UK 2012 (under construction), rated BREEAM excellent.
Exhibitions and Media
There have been 18 exhibitions of Yeang’s bioclimatic works, from Tokyo to Berlin to New York, London, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Rotterdam dating from 1985 through 2008.Yeang and his ecodesigns have been featured in a number of special broadcasts, including BBC television and radio, NHK (Japan), Asia Discovery Channel (Asia), US PBS (Public Broadcasting System) ‘design=e2’ (in which he was specifically identified as one of three architects in the world who have the greatest influence on ecodesign). The 5 January 2008 magazine of the UK Guardian newspaper referred to Yeang as 'one of the 50 People who could save the Planet’,
Corporate and Business
A not commonly known fact that may explain Yeang's success as a professional architect and ability to maintain a pole position as an innovative leading ecodesigner, researcher and author is his attendance in his early years of courses in business management at the Malaysian Institute of Management and Singapore Institute of Management, including a short course at Harvard Business School. In 2002 when his mother passed away, he was made Trustee and CEO in her will of the family's property holding, investment and development company,The Yeangs Sdn. Bhd. which he continues to successfully run and grow in tandem with his architect firm. Yeang had also been a Board member of the MBf Unit Trust and PAM Education Fund. His CPD lectures at the Malaysian Institute of Architects and SIngapore Institute of Architects on 'business strategies' are popularly attended.Chronology of projects
- Plaza Atrium, Kuala Lumpur
- Roof-Roof house, Kuala Lumpur 1985
- Menara Boustead, Kuala Lumpur
- Menara Mesiniaga
- MBF Tower, Penang
- Tokyo-Nara Tower, Tokyo, Japan
- TTDi The Plaza and Residence, Kuala Lumpur
- UMNO Tower, Penang
- Mutiara Mesiniaga Penang, Penang
- Mewah Oils Headquarters, Malaysia 2005
- National Library of Singapore, Singapore 2005
- Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (Main campus, Cyberjaya), Malaysia 2006
- TA2 Tower, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2005
- Norman Manley International Airport, Kingston, Jamaica 2009
- DIGI Technical Office, Shah Alam, Malaysia 2010
- Solaris, Singapore 2010
• Ganendra Art House 2010
Current projects under construction
- Spire Edge, Delhi (Est. Completion 2011)
- Great Ormond Street Hospital, London
Current projects
- Editt Tower, Singapore, a signature tower with a ramped greenery system
- Elephant and Castle EcoTower, London
- Al-Asima, Kuwait
- CAAG Tower, London
- Enterprise Building 4, Cyberjaya, Malaysia
- Jabal Omar Towers, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
- Dubai Towers, UAE
- Beijing Mega Hall North
- Taipei Capital Plaza
- Chongging Tower, China
- Vancouver Waterfront, Canada
- Premier City, Almaty, Kazakhstan
• Phase 2C5 Putrajaya, Malaysia,
• LGT Tower, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
External links
- Online version of Yeang's book "Bioclimatic Skyscrapers"
- Website of Llewelyn Davies Yeang
- Website of T. R. Hamzah & Yeang Sdn. Bhd.
- Biography and interview with Ken Yeang, and an image gallery of his work. CNN, July 2007
- A description of varied green techniques used in varied projects
- Asia Design Forum question and answer session
- Various Yeang Publications on ArchNet
- Interview with Ken Yeang 2009(Video)
- 2009 Green Source Magazine Article on Solaris, Singapore