Andrew K F Lee Professorship in Architecture Design

Professor Wang Weijen is a Professor at the Department of Architecture and Director of the Centre for Chinese Architecture and Urbanism at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He holds the Andrew K F Lee Professorship in Architecture Design, and his design and scholarly work is recognised for its unique regional qualities and global ramifications that contribute to the knowledge of architectural discourse.

His major academic achievements as an active designer and researcher have been the sustained integration of design with research through the teaching and practice of design, and providing architectural services to communities in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and the region. His research mainly focuses on Chinese architecture and cities, including the typology of courtyard and the study of temples, as well as the transformation of urban fabric and public spaces in historical and contemporary cities.

He places an emphasis on developing a reciprocal relationship between design research and practice that has become an integral part of his research portfolio. Over the years he has developed a clear design approach that focuses on courtyard typology as well as on its integration with architecture landscape and community fabric, particularly how such typologies can be re-invented and adapted into a contemporary high density urban environment.

Born in Taipei, Professor Wang received his MArch from the University of California, Berkeley in 1987, and his MS and BS from National Taiwan University in 1985 and 1981 respectively. He worked for The Architects Collaborative (TAC) in San Francisco (1987-94) and became an Associate at TAC in 1991. He took up a teaching appointment at HKU in 1994, becoming an Associate Professor in 2000, then a Professor in 2012, and served as Head of the Department of Architecture (2012-16).

He has been invited to teach as a Visiting Professor at the University of Montreal (2013), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2008-09), Taiwan National Chiao Tung University (2012), Nanjing University (2008) and Tongji University (1994). He is currently the External Examiner for the National University of Singapore (2016-18).

He is a Fellow Member of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA), and a Member of the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design and the American Institute of Architects (AIA). His design projects have won several AIA Design Awards, Far Eastern Architectural Awards, the China Architectural Media Award, the Good Design Award, as well as Green Building Awards and the HKIA Design Award. They have also been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, Beijing Design Week, and the Museum of Modern Art, Taipei.

Professor Wang was the Lead Curator of the 2007 Hong Kong Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, the first international architecture biennale of Hong Kong. Currently, he is the Chief Curator of the Hong Kong Exhibition 100 Towers 100 Architects for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. He is also the Editorial Director of the HKIA Journal OCCUPY.

Professor Wang’s design projects include Library and Student Center of CUHK’s Shenzhen Campus (2017); Re-habitation for Coiyuan Village (2016); Hangzhou Xixi Wetland Art Village (2011); Baishawan Visitor Center of Taipei (2010); Polytechnic University Community College (2008); Lingnan University Community College (2006); and Music School of Tainan Art University (2005). His recent publications include Re-fabricating Cities: A Reflection (2010); Re-generating Patio: Study of Macau Historical Urban Fabric (2011); and Urban Courtyardism: Design Works by Wang Weijen (2011).