The March 2023 issue of California Dreaming: Architectural Design is focused on the current state of architectural design & discourse in California. Author Max Kuo postulates that there are three ways to be Californian. In “Californian, the Third Way” Kuo determines that Alvin Huang, principal of Synthesis Design + Architecture, is a third-way Californian, he charts his emergence as an architect via his postgraduate studies at the Architectural Association in London and working at the esteemed offices of Zaha Hadid and Amanda Levete, before moving to California to start his own practice and finding China particularly hospitable to his architecture.
On February 20, 2023, Alvin Huang will be speaking at the Palm Springs Modernism Week to discuss the work, legacy, and impact of Asian-American Midcentury Modernist architect Gin Wong as a part of “Stories Untold — Asian American Architects and Midcentury Modernism: Influential Design and Social Exclusion”
“Modernism is deeply influenced by Japanese design and architecture, and architects of Asian descent helped shape the mid-century Southland. They did this in spite of deep-rooted discrimination and, for Japanese-Americans, incarceration in World War II internment camps.
Stories Untold shines a light on architects rarely given the attention deserved: Helen Fong, designer of well-known Googie coffee shops bringing Modernism to everyday venues; Gin Wong, a lead architect on landmarks such as the LAX Theme Building, Beverly Hills’ Union 76 gas station, and San Francisco’s Transamerica pyramid; and Charles Wong, Eugene Choy, Hideo Matsunaga, and others.”
