Kris Yao

Kris Yao is the founder of KRIS YAO | ARTECH, an Asia-based architectural firm with offices in Taipei and Shanghai. He obtained a Bachelor of Architecture from Taiwan’s Tunghai University, and received a Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. His projects are mainly located in the Greater China area, and can also be found in the United States, Europe and South Asia.

Throughout his 40 years of practice, Mr. Yao has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley in 2005, the National Award for Arts in Taiwan in 2007, and the prestigious Honorary Fellowship from the American Institute of Architects (Hon. FAIA) in 2014. Mr. Yao’s works have been widely published in international architectural magazines, professional journals, and several monographs, including “Kris Yao/Artech-Selected and Current Works” in 2001, “Architecture of Kris Yao” in 2011, the three-volume “KRIS YAO | ARTECH selected works 30x30” in 2015, and the most recent “SECTION: KRIS YAO | ARTECH” in 2024.

Kris Yao has taken part in many international architectural exhibitions, including Venice International Architectural Biennale, Rotterdam Int’l Architectural Biennale, and Beijing Int’l Architectural Art Biennale. He also held solo exhibitions “30x30” in Beijing, and “Within．Without” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai.

His most acclaimed projects include Lanyang Museum, Palace Museum Southern Branch, Water-Moon Monastery, and the recently completed New Taipei City Art Museum in Taiwan, as well as Foxconn Headquarters Shanghai, TSMC Nanjing Campus, Wuzhen Theater, Hupan Learning and Research Center, among others.

Mr. Yao’s architecture integrates function with culture and history, presenting a unique approach that celebrates the spirit of the locality. The AIA praised him as an architect who “demonstrates his humanity with the development of physical elements that hold true to human emotion and conditions, cultural and historical context, and a sense of scale and place. His architecture has a poetic nature, using his native eastern aesthetic and spirituality with a sense of natural light, interplay of surfaces and forms and executing all with a high level of innovation and professionalism.”

https://www.krisyaoartech.com/

[BCoS Alumni Fireside Chat] Threading Culture into Urban Design