(“Text as taken from the website”)
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, the Honorary Fellowship from the American Institute of Architects (Hon. FAIA) in 2014, an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from NYCU in 2024, and Honorary Doctor of Engineering, Tunghai University in 2026. 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 30×30” 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 “30×30” in Beijing, and “Within · Without” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai. In 2025, the firm was honored with the AIA International Firm Award. His most acclaimed projects include Lanyang Museum, Palace Museum Southern Branch, WaterMoon Monastery, New Taipei City Art Museum, and the ongoing Chuming Hospital 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.”
Practice Ideology
Kris Yao | Artech is an Asia-based architectural firm with offices in Taipei and Shanghai, and is comprised of international professionals. Our projects are mainly located in the Greater China area, but are also found in the United States, Europe and South Asia. Established in 1985 by Kris Yao, Hon. FAIA, the firm is one of the most influential architectural practices in Asia. It received Best Firm honors from the Architizer A+Awards and LOOP Design Awards in 2023, and was further recognized with the AIA International Firm Award in 2025. Using a creative and critical design process supplemented with extensive professional experience, our mission is to deliver high quality projects. Although architecture is at the core of our practice, our involvement in projects often extends to feasibility studies, master planning, and programming. Our firm’s portfolio demonstrates years of practice in cultural, corporate, commercial, hotels, performing arts centers, transportation, education, residential, spiritual spaces and urban design.
Our design philosophy strives to achieve excellence in design, by respecting and incorporating the needs of the clients, exploring the originality of the site context, and finding ways to employ innovative yet appropriate technologies, to create architectural works with cultural significance and poetic expression, without being preoccupied in expressing the architect’s stylistic signature. The variety and breadth of projects in our portfolio convey that the range and depth of experience at KRIS YAO | ARTECH is one of its greatest assets. A design team led by the Architect along with a Partner, a project manager, and senior designers is always formed at the start of a project, and is actively involved through all stages till the end of the construction to maintain optimum consistency. We choose qualified consultants with a wide knowledge base and an emphasis on accountability to the client. We also often collaborate with renowned international professional consultants to execute large or complex projects. Here at KRIS YAO | ARTECH we understand that great design is most important in the success of our firm.
Kris Yao | Artech’s selected works have been widely published in international magazines, architectural journals, and various monographs. Worthy to mention, the major ones are: the 2001-published “Kris Yao| Artech- Selected and Current Works”, the 2011-published “Architecture of Kris Yao,” the 2015-published “Kris Yao | Artech 30×30- Cultural Scenes, Communal Forums, Social Sanctuaries” and the 2024-published “SECTION: Kris Yao | Artech”, etc.
