Principal Architect and Co-founder of URBANUS Architecture & Design Inc.
In 1999, MENG Yan co-founded URBANUS with partners LIU Xiaodu and WANG Hui. He has focused on architectural design and urban research in the context of contemporary Chinese cities for twenty years. As Principal in charge of Design of URBANUS, MENG Yan has led numerous design projects over the years. These projects have won an international reputation for URBANUS, including Luohu Art Gallery, Dafen Art Museum, the OCT Art & Design Gallery, OCT-LOFT Renovation, Tulou Collective Housing, Maillen Hotel & Apartment, Nanshan Marriage Registration Center, Artron Art Center, CGN Headquarters Building, Zhongdian Complex, the Southern University of Science and Technology library and gymnasium and recently completed SHUM YIP UpperHills LOFT、the Renovation of Meng Sheng Residence, etc. His works have been exhibited in international architectural exhibitions in New York, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon, Rotterdam, Tokyo and other places and have been published in academic journals.
MENG Yan’s work has long focused on the key issues of China’s urban development, including social and cultural issues of rapid urbanization, high-density urban building typologies, Urban Village regeneration and preservation of historical area. He has led many urban design and research projects, such as series of studies on Shenzhen’s Urban Villages, including Hubei Old Village and Baishizhou 5 Villages Urban Regeneration Research, Nantou Old Town Preservation and Regeneration, Huaqiangbei Catic City Urban Design, as well as Preservation & Regeneration of Historic Qianmen East Hutong Area in Beijing, etc.
MENG Yan is an architect licensed in New York State and a RIBA Chartered Architect. He received his Bachelor and Master’s degrees of Architecture from Tsinghua University, and Master’s degree of Architecture from Miami University. MENG Yan was a visiting professor at the School of Architecture in the University of Hong Kong and Syracuse University. He has been invited as a jury member for numerous international design competitions and to lecture at many international academic institutions. MENG Yan is one of the chief curators for 2017 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\ Architecture (Shenzhen) and the chief curator of the Shenzhen Pavilion in 2010 Shanghai Expo.
