(“Text as submitted by architect”)
Hanxiao Liu
Luís Ricardo
Asst Prof. David Correa
Dr. Taichi Kuma
Practice Ideology
llLab. is a design studio based in Shanghai, Stuttgart and Porto operating within the fields of architecture, design, art, urbanism, research and development. The studio is led by four partners Hanxiao Liu, Luís Ricardo, David Correa and Taichi Kuma. Their work focuses on using design as a tool to improve social and cultural life through various scales, from urban projects to micro-architecture or installations. The principals are driven by an experimental and playful approach that leads to conceptually rigorous and well-executed design projects.
Creating distinctive solutions adapted to a context and its users, llLab. sets up conceptual platforms for design approaches to grow in time, within their particular contexts, producing site-specific design installations and building projects that both provoke and inspire. llLab. founders Hanxiao Liu, Luís Ricardo and David Correa started their own practice after meeting at the German office haascookzemmrich STUDIO 2050 and the Institute of Computational Design, where they collaborated on various international projects in both practical and academic fields.
Key projects include the San Sa Village at the foot of the Great Wall, Beigala Nostalgic Station in Beigou, Beijing, LEO Digital Network Office, Mercedes-Benz Cultural Centre, the Fragrant Lake Residential District in Beijing, and the Guggenheim Helsinki Competition (in which the team’s entry became one of 6 shortlisted finalists, from the 1,715 submissions). In addition to their series of award-winning design projects, Liu, Ricardo, Correa and Kuma have also worked at SOM in New York, RCR Arquitectes in Barcelona, Kobayashi + Zedda Architects in Whitehorse, Canada, and Kuma & Associates Europe in Paris, France, respectively.
