{"id":40682,"date":"2025-07-01T09:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T09:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/muse.international\/?p=40682"},"modified":"2025-07-04T04:23:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T04:23:44","slug":"siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/","title":{"rendered":"Siyu Zhu and Yijia Tang on Heritage Design in Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Siyu Zhu and Yijia Tang are Harvard-trained architects and researchers who co-lead PROP, a practice dedicated to creating designs that thoughtfully respond to context, history, materiality, and human connection, aiming to make a meaningful impact on everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q1. Congratulations on winning the MUSE Design Awards! Can you introduce yourself and share about what inspired you to pursue design as a career?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siyu Zhu:<\/strong> I am an architect, researcher, and educator working in the field of architectural design. I hold a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University, earned with several academic honors. I have practiced both in the US and internationally and have taught studios and served as a visiting critic at institutions including Harvard GSD, Northeastern University, and Boston Architectural College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yijia Tang:<\/strong> I am an architect and researcher currently based in Boston. I received a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University, where I was awarded the Julia Amory Appleton Traveling Fellowship to conduct research titled \u201cCurtains in Architecture,\u201d a project we collaborate on through our practice, PROP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have previously collaborated with artists and academic labs on installations and multimedia exhibitions and have worked with architecture firms in New York, Shanghai, and Paris. Outside of work, I have served on juries at Harvard College, Harvard GSD Design Discovery, and Northeastern University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang:<\/strong> Together in PROP, we see design as a way of understanding and intervening in the world. Growing up in Shenzhen, we both witnessed the rapid transformation of our city. That experience shaped our belief in the power of architecture to impact daily life. For us, good design is not about scale or cost but about a sensitive response to context, history, material, and human connection.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Q2. What does being recognized in the MUSE Design Awards mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Receiving the 2025 MUSE Design Awards is a tremendous honor and a meaningful recognition of our team\u2019s dedication to thoughtful, sustainable, and innovative architecture. It affirms our approach and energizes us to continue pushing boundaries. The award raises our profile in the global design community and reinforces our mission to address cultural, social, and ecological issues through design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q3. How has this achievement impacted your career, team, or agency, and what opportunities has it brought so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winning the 2025 MUSE Design Award has been a significant milestone, bringing new visibility and encouragement to our work. It validates our focus on cultural infrastructure and strengthens our motivation to deepen our engagement with the histories, communities, and ecologies that shape our projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This recognition has sparked interest from new collaborators, and we are optimistic about the opportunities ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q4. What role does experimentation play in your creative process? Can you share an example?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experimentation in our work means rethinking assumptions and reconfiguring what is already at hand. Architecture often carries historical, political, and social conventions, which can be easy to treat as fixed. We believe meaningful innovation comes from close observation and inventive reinterpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our Gold-winning project, “Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky,” we tested several strategies to integrate the museum into the site without competing with the existing mining tower. Eventually, we extended the tower\u2019s pitched roofline and tucked the new volume beneath it. This form supported the spatial narrative of descending into the earth and informed the rest of the design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q5. What’s the most unusual source of inspiration you’ve ever drawn from for a project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re often playful in sourcing inspiration. One of our recent installations was inspired by George R. Lawrence\u2019s massive 1900 camera obscura. Designed to photograph a train on a giant glass plate, the camera had bellows large enough to hold several men and resembled a locomotive-sized viewfinder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This object inspired a wooden pavilion shaped like a telescope, clad in cyanotype fabric printed with shadows of nearby trees. In another project, we designed a bench system made of recycled prefabricated wood, shaped in waves around a fountain. Its profile allows for leaning, lying, and passage\u2014transforming a simple element into a spatial experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore the journey of the Yuwei Li<\/a>, the Gold and Silver Winner of the 2025 MUSE Design Awards. She crafts AI-powered tools that make design more adaptive, accessible, and efficient, with award-winning projects like Unsweetened and PenguBuddy showcasing her impact.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Siyu Zhu and Yijia Tang are Harvard-trained architects and researchers who co-lead PROP, a practice dedicated to creating designs that thoughtfully respond to context, history, materiality, [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":40683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[405,372,553],"tags":[360,12,382],"yoast_head":"\nSiyu Zhu & Yijia Tang | Heritage Design Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Winner interview with Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang for Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky, the Gold Winner of the 2025 MUSE Design Awards.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang | Heritage Design Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Winner interview with Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang for Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky, the Gold Winner of the 2025 MUSE Design Awards.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Muse.World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/musedotworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T09:55:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-04T04:23:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/muse.international\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MDA-siyu-zhu-yijia-tang-thumb-1-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Maizura\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@musedotworld\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@musedotworld\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Maizura\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/\",\"name\":\"Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang | Heritage Design Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-01T09:55:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-04T04:23:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/#\/schema\/person\/6c06d27dec72f8caef69a58de7057d86\"},\"description\":\"Winner interview with Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang for Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky, the Gold Winner of the 2025 MUSE Design Awards.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Siyu Zhu and Yijia Tang on Heritage Design in Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/\",\"name\":\"Muse.World\",\"description\":\"MUSE Creative Awards | Vega Digital Awards | TITAN Awards\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/#\/schema\/person\/6c06d27dec72f8caef69a58de7057d86\",\"name\":\"Maizura\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7ec2dc5487c561c4b56a152817a6c14?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7ec2dc5487c561c4b56a152817a6c14?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Maizura\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/author\/maizura\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang | Heritage Design Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky","description":"Winner interview with Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang for Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky, the Gold Winner of the 2025 MUSE Design Awards.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang | Heritage Design Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky","og_description":"Winner interview with Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang for Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky, the Gold Winner of the 2025 MUSE Design Awards.","og_url":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/","og_site_name":"Muse.World","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/musedotworld","article_published_time":"2025-07-01T09:55:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-04T04:23:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1440,"url":"https:\/\/muse.international\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MDA-siyu-zhu-yijia-tang-thumb-1-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Maizura","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@musedotworld","twitter_site":"@musedotworld","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Maizura","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/","url":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/","name":"Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang | Heritage Design Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-07-01T09:55:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-04T04:23:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/#\/schema\/person\/6c06d27dec72f8caef69a58de7057d86"},"description":"Winner interview with Siyu Zhu & Yijia Tang for Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky, the Gold Winner of the 2025 MUSE Design Awards.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/siyu-zhu-and-yijia-tang-on-heritage-design-in-eye-for-earth-eye-for-sky\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Siyu Zhu and Yijia Tang on Heritage Design in Eye for Earth, Eye for Sky"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/#website","url":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/","name":"Muse.World","description":"MUSE Creative Awards | Vega Digital Awards | TITAN Awards","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/#\/schema\/person\/6c06d27dec72f8caef69a58de7057d86","name":"Maizura","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7ec2dc5487c561c4b56a152817a6c14?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7ec2dc5487c561c4b56a152817a6c14?s=96&r=g","caption":"Maizura"},"url":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/author\/maizura\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40682"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40695,"href":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40682\/revisions\/40695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}