Rather than look to the work of current Chinese architects, HCCH has found inspiration in mid-20th-century iconoclasts of the United States and Japan. “We’re really fascinated by the utopian, space-age ideas of the 1950s and ’60s and people like Buckminster Fuller,” says Chen. “We love inflatable buildings and also the Metabolists in Japan,” adds Hu.

Hu and Chen like to challenge the static nature of architecture, injecting a sense of motion into otherwise stable structures. For a site along a river in Zhejiang province, they designed a twisted brick shell that lures people inside with its intriguing play of shadow and light and its curling opening to the sky. Made of 12,000 bricks of 12 different widths inserted within a prefabricated laser-cut steel lattice and then bonded with concrete mortar, it adds a sense of spin to a simple enclosure. Built by local farmers in just 50 days, it can function as a pop-up library or a quiet place to enjoy views of the riverside where a developer invited 30 young designers (architects, landscape architects, and artists) to create a series of pavilions aimed at attracting tourists and locals.

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Twisted Brick Shell (3 & 4)
Built in just 50 days by local farmers in Zhejiang province, this pavilion uses common materials in inventive ways. Instead of being stacked in courses, bricks are inserted in a laser-cut steel lattice and then bonded with concrete. The project serves as a retreat for tourists and local residents and can host pop-up events. Photo © Qingyan Zhu, click to enlarge.

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Beside an 11-mile-long coastal site near Shanghai, the architects designed a pair of ecological monitoring structures—one a twisting tower, the other a spiraling pavilion—that wrap scientific functions in sculptural forms. For the same area, they also created a trio of low-budget pavilions made of quirky materials such as Lego-like pieces of recycled plastic and fabric membranes—each erected in just two weeks.

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Twisting Tower by the Sea (5 & 6)
Part of a series of ecological infrastructure projects along the coast of Shanghai, this tower twists so its three platforms face different directions and monitoring equipment can sample carbon in the air. Both sculptural and practical, the lookout calls attention to the need to collect data on the environment. Photo © Qingyan Zhu

Relay Factory Renovation
HCCH converted an old relay factory into an office and retail complex, retaining the basic form and structural elements of the existing buildings and wrapping them with new facades made of inexpensive materials such as cement board, tile, and paint. By bending, perforating, and grooving the materials, the architects were able to create visual diversity with a simple palette. Photo © Qingyan Zhu

Much of the firm’s larger-scale work involves transforming and rethinking existing buildings. In Shanghai, for example, HCCH converted a 19th-century brick factory into a venue for shops, cafés, and cultural activities by making it more porous, to its surroundings and to daylight. Using a strategy of subtraction, the architects removed part of the building’s roof to create a long skylit central atrium and opened an internal kiln flue to enhance circulation. Other projects feature clever new facades and envelopes for buildings, such as an unfinished performance hall on the West Bund in Shanghai, a collective housing complex, and an old relay factory.

Using what they find—whether it’s an abandoned structure or discarded bricks—Hu and Chen have realized projects that are ecologically responsible and intellectually nimble. Their ability to do a lot with very little—by simply applying a great deal of creativity—reveals a sly optimism that ties them to the boundary-breaking designers of yesteryear that the couple so closely admire.

Ecological Pavilion by the Sea. Photo © Qingyan Zhu

Hao Chen, Chenchen Hu. Photo © Fangfang Tian

FOUNDED: 2018

DESIGN STAFF: 6-8

PRINCIPALS: Hao Chen, Chenchen Hu

EDUCATION:
Chen: Harvard Graduate School of Design, M.AUD., 2014; Tongji University, M.Arch., 2011; B.Arch., 2009
Hu: Harvard Graduate School of Design, M.AUD., 2013; Tongji University, B.Arch., 2009

WORK HISTORY:
Chen: Atelier Deshaus, 2015–18; OMA, 2014; Standardarchitecture, 2013; MADA s.p.a.m., 2008
Hu: Atelier Deshaus, 2016–18; Abalos- Sentkiewicz, 2013–16; SOM, 2012; Atelier FCJZ, 2008

KEY COMPLETED PROJECTS:
Westbund Dream Center, 2024; Renovation of Relay Factory, 2024; 5 Ecological Infrastructures Along the Coast, 2023; PRISM, 2021 (all in Shanghai); Twisted Brick Shell, 2023, Zhejiang, China

KEY CURRENT PROJECTS:
Deer Hut, Chongqing; Riverview Pavilion, Hangzhou; Mountainview Pavilion, Guangdong; Collective Housing Renovation, Shanghai; Renovation of Machine Tool Plant, Shanghai (all in China)

hcchstudio.com