Green Design – Ken Yeang

Dr. Ken Yeang ( born 1948) is a pro­lific Malaysian architect and writer best known for de­vel­op­ing environmental design so­lu­tions for high-rise build­ings in the trop­ics.

Life and career

Born in 1948 in Penang (Pulau, Pinang), Malaysia, Yeang at­tended Cheltenham College in Gloucestershire, England, re­ceived his first qual­i­fi­ca­tion in ar­chi­tec­ture from the Architectural Association in Lon­don, and re­ceived a PhD in ecological de­sign from Cambridge University for a dis­ser­ta­tion en­ti­tled A The­o­ret­i­cal Frame­work for the Eco­log­i­cal De­sign and Plan­ning of the Built Environment.

As a prin­ci­pal in T. R. Hamzah and Yeang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, since 1975, he was in­stru­men­tal in de­vel­op­ing the de­sign of passive-modelow en­ergy sky­scrap­ers,as bio­cli­matic sky­scrap­ers. As a re­sult of his en­ergy con­serv­ing in­no­va­tions, Yeang has de­signed sky­scrap­ers in London, Singapore, Kuwait, Canada, China, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. The firm has also de­signed mas­ter plans for both sites and multi-building com­plexes in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, and China.

Yeang is re­garded as the fa­ther or in­ven­tor of the bio­cli­matic sky­scraper, largely the re­sult of his book The Sky­scraper: Bio­cli­mat­i­cally Considered (1997, John Wiley & Sons). The Uni­ver­sity of Washington’s Pro­fes­sor Udo Kulterman stated, «Professor Ken Yeang is in­ter­na­tion­ally renowned as the ‘father’ of the ‘sustainable bio­cli­matic building’”. His bio­cli­matic build­ings ex­tend to low-rise high den­sity and sub-grade struc­tures. Ken Yeang’s ar­chi­tec­ture is based on his the­o­ret­i­cal eco­log­i­cal stud­ies pub­lished in The Green Sky­scraper: The Basis for De­sign­ing Eco­log­i­cal Sus­tain­able Buildings (l999, Pres­tel) in which he ad­dresses the eco­log­i­cal de­sign of large build­ings and sky­scrap­ers. Early work, in­cor­po­rat­ing bio­cli­matic prin­ci­ples as pas­sive low-energy de­sign, led to his eco­log­i­cally sus­tain­able agenda. Early ex­per­i­ments in­clude the Roof-Roof House in Kuala Lumpur (1985), pro­vid­ing a lou­vered um­brella struc­ture over the build­ing. Yeang’s early focus ap­plies bio­cli­matic prin­ci­ples to sky­scraper de­sign.

In 2005 Yeang be­came de­sign di­rec­tor (and sub­se­quently Chair­man in 2010) of the ven­er­a­ble Eng­lish firm of Llewe­lyn Davies, which re­branded as Llewe­lyn Davies Yeang with head­quar­ters in Lon­don. The com­bined firms of Llewe­lyn Davies Yeang and T. R. Hamzah and Yeang have of­fices in Lon­don, Kuala Lumpur, Shenzen, and Beijing.

R.Hamzah & Yeang Sdn.Bhd. is an international architect firm with its HQ in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, best known for designing innovative signature green buildings and masterplans. The firm has been in existence over 3 decades, with projects in Europe, USA and Asia. Key projects include the high-rise National Library Board building (Singapore), the 40-storey Eco-Tower at Elephant & Castle, the 24-storey IBM Building (Malaysia) and 15-storey Mesiniaga Building (IBM franchise) (Malaysia), Wirrina Cove Condominium (Australia).

The principals are Tengku Robert Hamzah and Dr. Ken Yeang. Both the principals’ architectural education were at the AA (Architectural Association) School (London). Tengku Robert Hamzah, a prince in the Malay Royal family, and had completed the AA Tropical Architecture School course under Dr.Otto Koenigsberger. Dato’ Dr. Ken Yeang subsequently received a doctorate from Cambridge University (UK) on ecological design.

The firm has received over 20 awards including the Aga Khan Award for Archiecture (1995) and the RAIA International Award (in 1997 and 1999). The firm’s work has been published extensively in the international press.

The firm’s design expertise is in their ecological approach for the design of large projects and buildings that include consideration given to their impacts on the site’s ecology and the building’s use of energy and materials over its life-cycle. Much of the firm’s early work pioneers the passive low-energy design of skyscrapers, as the ‘bioclimatic skyscraper’. The firm is a long-serving member of the Council on Tall buildings and Urban habitat (USA). The firm practices Cost Planning ( in delivering Projects to be within Client’s budget) with great emphasis on rigorous in-house project management and control. The firm has a sister company in UK, Llewelyn Davies Yeang. Ken Yeang

More info … www.trhamzahyeang.com

Ken Yeang - Green Building Design – Sustainability

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