From teacups and branding to hotels and master planning, Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu have embraced a broad swath of design work since starting their firm, Neri & Hu Design and Research Office (NHDRO), in Shanghai in 2004. Coming from Michael Graves’s office, both partners saw nothing unusual in moving from one scale to another — designing ceramic salt-and-pepper shakers one moment, then the plan for the mixed-use Legation Quarter in Chengdu the next. “It helps us develop a multifaceted approach,” says Neri. “Today, there’s a lot more crossover between fields. Marcel Wanders goes from products to hotels. Sejima designs furniture. Even Zumthor does a candlestick for Alessi.” Hu adds, “It opens your mind so you don’t get caught up in your own world. Doing just a certain type of architecture—with all the theory and history—can trap you in a box.”
The husband-and-wife team has taken an entrepreneurial approach to their careers, moving beyond design in 2005 to found Design Republic, a retail company that sells furnishings and furniture from local and international companies to China’s emerging middle class. And they helped bring the interiors trade show 100% Design to Shanghai in 2008 and 2009. Recently they completed their own headquarters building at 88 Yuqing Road in Shanghai, which houses a Design Republic store on the ground floor and offices for NHDRO and Design Republic upstairs. Now they have 22 projects on the boards, including a boutique hotel, called The Water House, on the Bund in Shanghai; a Westin hotel and museum in Xian; a seven-story residential complex in Shanghai; and houses in Shanghai, Mexico, Singapore, and the United States. NHDRO’s 70-person staff hails from roughly 20 different countries, which is helping the firm tackle more international commissions. “Working globally has created a different dynamic in the office and forced us to rethink how we do things,” states Neri. In response to the expanding scale and scope of their work, Neri and Hu have hired an old friend from the U.S. who has experience working on and managing large architecture projects.
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