What is your name, current location, and current occupation?
Emily Huang, San Francisco, CA, Founding Partner of architecture firm, Huang Iboshi Architecture, a small practice of 9 team members.
What was your affiliation with MIT?
Master of Architecture, 1991
What was your thesis title?
Body in Space: the Sensual Experience of Architecture and Dance
Dance and architecture are two disciplines of creativity that share a special relationship. Both disciplines define and use space as the main medium for creative interpretation. Dance is movement of the human body through space over time. Architecture and its spatial qualities are experienced by the human body through movement over time.
What are you doing today?
I am the founding partner of Huang Iboshi Architecture, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. We specialize in private residential design and small institutional projects in San Francisco and Northern California. It is a privilege to live and work in one of the most inspirational environments in the world. I have been happily married for 28 years and the mother of an 18 year old son. In my volunteering role, I am the Co-President of MIT Architecture Alumni, MITArchA.org, and also a member of the Mentoring Committee, a service I strongly believe in. I have been contributing to the success of MITArchA as a board member and as the vice president of membership since 2019.
Do you think your career path has been unorthodox or nontraditional?
Our architecture practice takes a project from the inception of an idea to the delivery of the furnished space. From casual evaluation, it is quite traditional. However, from the inception of the practice, we have applied non-traditional ways of thinking about architecture, its delivery, and as a product and service. Our aesthetic is not idiosyncratic because we believe in doing work that is appropriate and in harmony with the greater whole. Our brand offers problem solving solutions that are synergistic with all our considerations, therefore making poetry out of the practical.
How did your time at MIT affect your career path?
MIT instilled in me a sense of belonging to the entire world because of its diversity in people, culture and knowledge. I think of my work and my practice as a service to our society. My work is about how to improve our environment, create beauty, and offer benefits to people.
What are you excited about in your career field today?
Architecture has an inherently useful and helpful purpose. It provides for human inhabitation and it promotes well being and peace. Architecture can bring people together to foster a stronger community. I think our world in its current discordant state can benefit from our agency. The process of making a project takes years and involves many. Our role as architect involves a well designed and thoughtful process: advocacy, delivery of work, and responsible and durable buildings. I believe in creating harmonious and responsive design in every aspect of my work, reinforcing positivity and supporting the world.
What is advice you would give to a new alum coming out of MIT?
If you think design thinking and design making is your calling, then believe in it and have tenacity. Don't give up on your purpose because it feels like a challenge with many obstacles and not enough to gain. Our work does not need to be unique or unprecedented to be impactful. Our work needs to contribute positively to our world and inspire the people we serve. We are all interconnected and we all matter. Respect the people who came before us and foster the people who come after us.
What are you trying to learn right now?
I am in collaboration to make an upcoming art film about architecture and dance. I am working on how to apply my architecture thesis to the narrative and the overall concept of the film. The film will be set in Barcelona and will feature choreography and dance in Barcelona Art Nouveau architecture. I am researching the impetus and history of Barcelona Art Nouveau. In addition, I am learning furniture design, metal fabrication, and how to be a master gardener. From a spiritual perspective, I am learning and trying to manifest beauty in every way possible and pursuing how to find peace and gratitude every day.
How can fellow alums reach you if they want to speak further?
Emily@HI-arch.com, HI-arch.com