HAS design and research

HAS (Hung And Songkittipakdee) explores Asia’s architectural language through a “design + research” parallel approach; it emphasizes the analogy of nature and man-made nature, looking for another kind of new natural architecture through the city’s own derivatives, named “The Improvised, MANufaAcTURE and Chameleon Architecture”. HAS work encompassing cultural buildings, religious architecture, installation art, exhibition design and experimental projects; and HAS research includes the train and railway markets, the charming roadside vendors, the borderless illegal constructions under the elevated freeways, and the roundabouts of dead alleys. These interesting scenes typically exist in Asian cities, where temporary construction truly reveals how people can find a “new” nature in the reinforced concrete city.

HAS developed an international reputation through winning competition entries, and their work stands out in terms of its synthesis of form, pattern, material and technology into singular, irreducible constructions. They have received many awards and honors, including Thailand Prestige Award, Designer of Year Award, Design Star Award, Young Architects Award (Best of Best) and Distinguished Alumni Award.

Jenchieh Hung started his career, working at the Japanese firm – Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA), where he became design manager and project in-charge in 2018. During his tenure at KKAA, Hung was responsible for Yangcheng Lake Tourist Transportation Center in Suzhou and Shipyard 1862 in Shanghai. At present, he is the principal architect of HAS design and research, founder of Chinese-Thai Research Studio, guest editor of International Journal of Interior Architecture + Spatial Design, and member of the Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage. Hung received a Bachelor of Architecture and Urban Planning with 1st honor from Chung Hua University, Master of Architecture from National Cheng Kung University and full scholarship of advanced master program in Czech Technical University in Prague.

Kulthida Songkittipakdee is a registered Thai architect. She was the first Asian architect among thousand applications around the world to be awarded the scholarship of Renzo Piano Foundation working at Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) in Paris. During her tenure at RPBW, she was involved in Jerome L. Greene Science Center, Columbia University and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Expansion. At present, she is the principal architect of HAS design and research, guest editor of Taiwan Architecture, and member of the Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage. Songkittipakdee received a Bachelor of Architecture with honor from Chulalongkorn University, and she pursued studies abroad and obtained a Master of Urban Design from the L’Ecole National Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-la-Villette including the exchange program study at School of Architecture and Design, Aalborg University in Denmark.

Jenchieh Hung and Kulthida Songkittipakdee also teach Southeast Asian architecture at International Program in Design and Architecture (INDA), Chulalongkorn University, Thailand and design studio at College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, China, with visiting critic at School of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi.

Beside practice, HAS (Hung And Songkittipakdee) giving architectural lecture to several universities such as Arsom Silp Institute of the Art, Assumption University, Chulalongkorn University, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Thailand; and East China Normal University, Shanghai University, Tongji University, Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China. They were also invited to speak in public lectures, including American Institute of Architects (AIA Shanghai), Bund Finance Center, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai Library, Tencent Talks.