Photo credit: Angus Hong
FrankanLisa is a Hong Kong-based design studio led by Tianying Li and Haotian Zhang, specializing in architecture, digital art, and making. They play many roles in their practice, shifting between teachers, drafters, exhibitors, writers, makers, directors, Taobao customers, two independent designers, and one synthetic person, FrankanLisa.
Tianying Li holds a Master of Architecture II from the Cooper Union, prior to which she received her M.Arch and B.Arch from Tsinghua University. She is currently teaching undergraduate studios at the University of Hong Kong. Her research and design focus on materiality and tectonics in the context of consumerism and mass production.
Haotian Zhang received his Master’s degree from the Cooper Union and his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Tsinghua University. He is currently teaching studios and digital representation at the University of Hong Kong. His teaching and research revolve around (sur)realistic digital representation and rural Chinese futurism.
Their work has been exhibited at various venues internationally, including Carnegie Museum of Art, National Building Museum (US), Beijing Design Week, Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, Beijing World Art Museum in addition to multiple institutes. Their recent exhibition at HKU architecture gallery showcased their investigations into point cloud operation and aesthetics, an ongoing research currently supported by the Design Trust Seed Grant. They also participated in the major section of UABB 2022 (Shenzhen), Cosmic Cities, together with eight of the most established architects in China, reflecting on the Post-Anthropocenic condition of contemporary cities. The project received the Young Talent Award from UABB. They have delivered talks at DigitalFUTURES, School of Environment and Architecture (Mumbai), and Archipelago (群岛) to international and Chinese audiences. They are also two of the Chinese translators of Space and Learning by Herman Hertzberger.
She is Lisa and he is Frank.
Contact: frankanlisa@gmail.com
Selected exhibitions and awards:
Young Talent Award, UABB 2022, Shenzhen, China, 2023
Cosmic Cities (寰宇城市), Urban Cosmologies: UABB 2022 (Shenzhen), Jinwei Beer Factory, Shenzhen, China, 2022-2023
Design Trust Seed Grant, “Urban Fractals: a point cloud documentary of Hong Kong living spaces,” with Qian Guo, Hong Kong, 2022
Image Recycling, solo exhibition, HKU Architecture Gallery, PMQ, Hong Kong, 2022
Floating in a World Too Heavy, co-curated with Chang Su, HKU Architecture Gallery, PMQ, Hong Kong, 2022
Plastic Up! (加塑!), Kong Lab, Shenzhen, China, 2022
Out of Focus (失焦), Wuxu Space, Shanghai, China, 2022
Beijing Urban and Architecture Biennale, Phoenix International Media Center, Beijing, China, 2021
Aesthetics of Prosthetics, Siegel Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, US, 2019
At Once/ U tren oka, STIFF Film Festival, Gallery SKC, Rijeka, Croatia, 2019
Tomorrow (doesn’t look so good) Today, the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, US, 2019
What Is Contemporary, Master Thesis Exhibition 2019, Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, US, 2019
Drawing for the Design Imaginary, the 107th ACSA Meeting, College of Fine Arts Great Hall of CMU and Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, US, 2019
Beijing Design Week 2017, 751 International Design Festival, 751 Design Park, Beijing, China, 2017
Honorable mention, Fairy Tales 2018, Blank Space, New York, NY, 2018