By Delia Zamir | July 12, 2010
The Vanguards: Two Asian architects who challenged convention
Avant-garde, or introducing new approaches to architectural forms, are rarely met with unanimous approval - at the very beginning, at least. Two world-renowned architects Maya Lin and Datuk Ken Yeang challenged and transformed the norms of architecture. Lin altered the previous concepts of memorials with her iconic design of the Amercian Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, whereas Datuk Yeang rethought the idea of skyscrapers or high-rise buildings, not only as a stand-alone structure but also acclimated with the environment.
Maya Lin (1959 - present)
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Maya Lin
- Filepic from eyelevel.si.edu |
US-born Chinese-American Maya Lin grew up in an artistic and academic household as her parents were both professors. Her father taught Fine Arts, while her mother taught Literature. Her most recognisable work, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, was designed to allow the names of those lost in combat to speak for themselves.
Lin catapulted into international attention while still an undergraduate at Yale University in year 1981. At age 21, she submitted a winning design for a national competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to be built in Washington, D.C. The memorial consisted of a V-shaped granite masonry wall, etched with the names of more than 50,000 fallen soldiers.
Lin's design won, beating 1,420 other submissions. The physical structure was built and completed in late 1982. Initially, the structure was met with almost-unanimous public disaproval due to the unconventionality of the design approach because memorials were generally thought of as a homage museum or sculpture, and not the outdoor granite slab Lin envisioned. Her Asian heritage also came under attack during this time, and at one point the culmination of events forced Lin to actually defend her design in front of the United States Congress. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial has since been accepted, and is now a pilgrimage site for friends and family of the American military casualties in Vietnam.
After the bittersweet success of the memorial, Lin's ensuing sculptures, parks, monuments, and architectural projects have shared a common theme with the first memorial she designed, which displays a definite link between open space for individuals and its immediate surrounding.
She has also become a subject in an Academy Award-winning documentary and awarded an honorary doctorate degree. Most recently, in year 2009 Lin was awarded the National Medal of Arts by US President Barack Obama.
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The Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Washington, D.C.
- Filepic from laurabielecki.com and jhs1968.com |
Memorable quotes:
“I loved logic, math, computer programming. I loved systems and logic approaches. And so I just figured architecture is this perfect combination.”
(On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial building)
“I deliberately did not read anything about the Vietnam War because I felt the politics of the war eclipsed what happened to the veterans. The politics were irrelevant to what this memorial was.”
Datuk Ken Yeang (1948 - present)
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Malaysian-born architect Datuk Ken Yeang
- Filepic from wallpaper.com |
Malaysian-born architect Datuk Ken Yeang is now synonymous with 'green' skyscraper designs and known throughout the world as the father of sustainable 'bioclimatic' buildings. For years, Yeang has championed the idea of environmental design solutions, or green design, and developed a contemporary eco-concept he terms as bioclimatic (low energy) design. He believes that a high-rise structure, or indeed all man-made residential and commercial buildings should possess a balance of engineering infrastructure and ‘mimicry’ of nature.
As early as 40 years ago, Yeang recognised that global warming and the increasing pollution of the environment would tamper with the natural equilibrium of eco-systems. Therefore, he began to approach each building as an addition to the earth’s living, breathing eco-system and interprets his theories into projects around the world.
Yeang’s most recognisable buildings in Asia are the Roof-Roof House in Kuala Lumpur, Menara Mesiniaga in Selangor, Kowloon Waterfront Masterplan in Hong Kong and the National Library of Singapore.
Yeang has full-time practices in Kuala Lumpur and London, and is a prolific writer of books about eco-design. He is also a visiting scholar at universities in Australia, China, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States and has been featured in a number of special broadcasts. In a PBS television special in the US, he was identified as one of three architects in the world who have the greatest influence on eco-design. Yeang has also been referred to as one of the ‘50 people who could save the planet’.
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Left: The Menara Mesiniaga building in Subang received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1995 for design.
- Filepic from chuhai.edu.hk
Right: The Roof-Roof house in Kuala Lumpur is Datuk Yeang’s own residential property which features bioclimatic principles. |
Memorable quotes:
"The skyscraper building type is probably the most ecologically unfriendly of all building types, but until an economically viable alternative is identified, it is necessary to make them as humane and as sustainable as possible."
"We'll see green buildings long before 2020 - I think the movement is intensifying. Within the next 5-10 years we'll see a lot more green buildings being built. Not just buildings but green cities, green environment, green master plans, green products, green lifestyles, green transportation. I'm very optimistic."
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