Ken Yeang - Early Education and Career

Early Education and Career

Born in 1948 in Penang, Malaysia, Yeang attended Penang Free School and Cheltenham Boys College (a British 'public school' in Gloucestershire), obtained his first qualifications in architecture from the Architectural Association School in London, and received a PhD in ecological design and planning from Cambridge University's Department of Architecture for his dissertation, "A Theoretical Framework for Incorporating Ecological Considerations in the Design and Planning of the Built Environment", published as Designing with Nature (1995) that became the springboard for his pioneering work in ecodesign, green architecture and ecocity masterplanning.

Yeang attended courses in ecology at the Department of Environmental Biology at Cambridge University (under Professor J.W.L. Beament). Becoming a member of the British Ecological Society, he committed his entire professional life to the pursuit of an ecological design agenda. His professional mission is declared to be, ',. making our human world and built environment green by design innovation..'.

He is professionally registered as an architect (ARB and RIBA, PAM (Malaysia), SIA (Singapore).) since 1972, and has seen to completion over a dozen bioclimatic and eco high-rise buildings, several thousand dwellings (terraced houses), over two million sq.ft. of interior design space, numerous ecomasterplans and ecocity designs and in totality has completed over a hundred building projects of all types worldwide.

His architect and planning firm, T. R. Hamzah and Yeang has sister offices in the UK as Llewelyn Davies Yeang and in China as North Hamzah Yeang Architectural and Engineering Company (Beijing), a joint venture with Norinco (a Chinese Army's company) with branch offices in Shenzen, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing.

Yeang has lectured extensively in over 30 countries at conferences and schools of architecture to proselytise his ideas. He is the Distinguished Plym Professor (University of Illinois at Champaign, Urbana), and has been the Professor of Practice (Texas A & M University); the Graham Willis Professor (University of Sheffield), the Provost’s Distinguished Visiting Scholar (University of Southern California); Advisory Professor (Tongji University, Shanghai), Honorary Professor (University of Hong Kong) and Adjunct Professor (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, University of Hawaii, University of New South Wales, Curtin University, University of Malaya, Deakin University); and Visiting Eminent Scholar (Florida Atlantic University).