Constant Attractions

With most attractive features of new developments already commonplace, architect Yip Yuen Hong focuses on innovative use of timeless elements in Midtown Modern.

- Marc Almagro

“Maybe I was misquoted,” Yip Yuen Hong told me in mild protest as I tried to verify what he reportedly told a journalist: “Soul-lifting architecture is replacing attention-seeking, self-indulgent design”. He demurs lightly: “I don’t think I’ve ever been so presumptuous to say something sweeping,” he said. “For me, all architecture should be soul-lifting,” he elaborated, “whether it’s simple or ‘acrobatic’. Of course, I gravitate towards certain forms, but it doesn’t mean that I’m disparaging the ‘acrobatic’.”

Yip believes that a built structure should reflect what is required of them. “A responsible architect,” he insists, “should understand human nature and human needs. He’s not a pure artist but a facilitator. His task is to understand how people would actually use the space.”

Admittedly, several factors go into the creation of the built space, including the physical environment and how it responds to the requirements of its user. There also trends, even technology, that will shape and limit creation. “We create for whoever will use the space – that we can never run away from, but we also inject something that could provide some form of delight. After satisfy all the user’s needs and aspirations, we extrapolate to be able to give them a bit more. We try to create that sense of belonging and make them realize that the space is truly theirs.”