Culture Builders

Forging strong cultural identities with their architecture and design projects, Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu of Shanghai-based Neri&Hu base their work on critical thinking, research and an unlabelled yet signature style

- Tina Thakrar

In our conversations with many architects, we often hear about how their understanding of design has evolved over time - from being about giving their work a signature identity, to letting their cultural identity and background bubble to the surface, to finally understanding that design, as a process, is hard to define and pin down. Speaking with Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu of Shanghai-based Neri&Hu Design and Research Office opened us up to a whole new dimension, of how design has a sense of meaning and purpose, can help solve innumerable problems of simple day-to-day functioning, and retain our cultural, social and historical roots.

Architects, designers, creators, innovators, handcrafters - it’s hard to slot Neri and Hu into boxes, except a boundless one labeled ‘problem solvers’. Both of them come with spangled, almost parallelly-running portfolios - Neri studied Architecture at the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard University, before going on to work for Michael Graves & Associates and a number of other architectural firms in New York; Hu studied Architecture, Urban Planning, and Music at the University of California at Berkeley and Princeton University, and followed it up with professional stints at Michael Graves & Associates; Ralph Lerner Architect; Skidmore, Owings and Merrill; and The Architects Collaborative (TAC).

“Studying abroad pretty much formed the foundation of our architectural thinking and design process. Design elements are not like chemicals that we can mix into a formula and create results. It is a much more artistic and undefinable process, but everything we come into contact with becomes who we are, and that builds the inspiration pool for our work,” reveals Neri.