Eugene Tsui

Eugene Tsui

Eugene Tsui, Ph.D- sometimes spelled Tssui - (born Eugene Tsui; September 14, 1954, in Cleveland, Ohio, USA) is a Chinese-American architect, urban planner, environmental designer, author, industrial designer and clothing designer; Chinese name, Cui Yue Jun.

Dr. Tsui is known as a multi-talented polymath maintaining offices in Emeryville, California, USA and Shenzhen, China. In addition to architectural and industrial design contracts, he currently conducts research at South China University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou, China, Harbin University of Technology, Shenzhen, China; and Yu Cai Schools, Shenzhen, China.

His varied designs include the futuristic residence for his parents in Berkeley, California, the Watsu Center School, the Ecological House of the Future, the Tsui Design and Research complex, the Strait of Gibraltar Floating Bridge, the Shenzhen Tower, the Ultima Two Mile High City, the Nexus Mobile Floating Sea City, the Emeryville Nature Study Center, and the Telos Education Center. These examples of both built and proposed concept designs express Dr. Tsui’s unique and original approach to architecture and urban planning.

Tsui’s overarching approach, called “Evolutionary Architecture" arose from his in-depth study of living organisms and natural processes. This focus on Nature-Based Design has influenced many of his peers. All of these projects reflect Tsui’s fascination with, and his 30 years of research into, biological and geological design evolution. For instance, the residence he designed and built for his parents is based on the world’s most durable organism, the Tardigrade. The house has elicited particular enthusiasm from the public. The house design has received an enormous amount of print and television coverage around the world.

Personal life

Eugene Tsui was born in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, in 1954, to Chinese parents from Beijing, China (mother) and Wuhu, Anhui Province, China (father). His parents came to the United States to graduate schools in Physical Therapy and Physics/Mechanical Engineering, respectively. Dr. Tsui has no siblings. His family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, in 1956 and stayed until 1972. Tsui attended University Elementary and High School in Minneapolis from first through the 12th grades. He also attended the Minneapolis Institute for Talented Youth, to develop music and performance abilities, and the West Bank School of Music, in music composition and ear training. Much of Tsui’s life-pattern of engaging and developing multiple interests was formed during this time of his life. He excelled at track-and-field, swimming, martial arts, Flamenco dance, Chinese medicine, dietics, concert piano, drums, the design and construction of inventions, industrial design and architecture. Tsui grew up in an extremely traditional family environment. He's always believed that most of his abilities were inherited rather than taught. From his father, he inherited three-dimensional visualization, precision drawing ability and single-mindedness. From his mother he gained his artistic, athletic and musical ability as well as his focus, self-reliance, perseverance and public speaking ability. He was an iconoclastic and rebellious child exploring his own path in life. In 1972, Tsui and his family were among the first American families allowed to re-enter mainland China after President Richard Nixon opened relations between the two countries. The Tsui family stayed in China for the summer months before moving to Montreal, Canada where they were joined by long awaited family members allowed to emigrate from mainland China. Eugene Tsui attended McGill University as an engineering student and left a year later to live with Lynda Sky (née, Raino) with whom he had two sons, Paolo and Sorell. In 1976, after four years of working in other architects’ offices, he attended Columbia University Graduate School of Design and was recommended to apprentice with Bruce Goff. Columbia University professors said, “What you are looking for, we cannot teach you”. He was accepted by the maverick architect, Goff, and began a six year apprenticeship. In 1979, he met and lived with Deborah Soward and was eventually married to her for three years until 1986. During this time, he attended the University of Oregon and completed a five year professional degree in three-and-one-half years. Architecture professors there tried to expel him three times due to, “conceptual differences”. He completed his apprenticeship at Goff’s death in 1982. He then won a national fellowship award to travel to Stuttgart, Germany, to meet with Frei Otto, the designer of the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics buildings. In 1983, Tsui entered the University of California, Berkeley, completing Master’s degrees in Architecture, City and Regional Planning, and an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Architecture and Education, within five years. In 1989, he founded, Tsui Design and Research, Inc., a design laboratory and office in the San Francisco Bay area. In 1990, he married, Elisabeth Montgomery, a filmmaker and sociologist. They have one daughter, Chase, born in 1991. In 1999, Tsui and his family moved to Shenzhen, China where he was a Visiting Professor of Ecological Architecture, returning to the USA in 2003. In 2006, he began work on Telos, a school and design laboratory to be constructed on 178 acres (0.72 km²) in Mount Shasta, California, USA. In 2009, he was a Visiting Scholar at South China University of Science and Technology with a contract until 2012. In 2010, he was asked to be a Visiting Professor at Harbin Graduate Institute of Technology in Shenzhen, China. In 2010 he became a Foreign Expert in Education, creating an “Innovation and Foresight” education laboratory at Yu Cai School in Shenzhen, China, which is presently under construction. He is also a Senior Lecturer and Instructor at the University of California, Berkeley, and teaching courses in Biomimicry, Industrial Design, Engineering, Evolutionary Design, Ethno-Ecology and Ecological Behavioral Change in their Sustainability, Arts, Design and Engineering Program. Tsui’s impressive array of endeavors, abilities and the diversity of his accomplishments extend far beyond architecture. He is a four-time Senior Olympics All Around Gymnastics Champion, a Six-Time World Champion in amateur boxing, eight-time US Presidential Sports Award winner, a performing and recording musician in film soundtracks, inventor, research scientist, international lecturer and professor of design and ecology, globally published clothing designer and author and regular featured personality on international documentary films and television. He and Elisabeth reside in Emeryville, California, USA and Shenzhen and Guangzhou, China, surrounded by his parents, daughter, sons, and four grandchildren.

Architectural style

Dr. Tsui’s work might be categorized as Biomimetic. He is considered one of the main pioneers of nature-based architecture and came to international attention with his first major publication, Evolutionary Architecture: Nature as A Basis for Design, published by Wiley and Sons in 1999. Tsui consistently refers to his work as Evolutionary to underline the fact that it is not mimicking the appearances of nature’s organisms, but rather is seeking to comprehend and express the underlying structure, processes and functional efficiency of natural organisms and apply them to human-made structures. Tsui is sometimes associated with the Organic and the Biomorphic school of thought originated by Frank Lloyd Wright, Erich Mendelsohn, Antonio Gaudi and architects of the Expressionist and Art Nouveau schools. Tsui’s work radically departs from these references by his scientific study and testing of living organisms and habitats and his effective exploration and development of new materials that are not harmful to the natural environment. His ecological design requirements such as minimizing or eliminating the use of electrical power, plant-based water cleaning systems, solar ovens, maximizing aerodynamics, use of compost toilets, minimizing the use of materials and the footprint of the building while achieving maximum structural strength and the development of designs that cannot be destroyed by natural disasters, extend his design work far beyond the traditional definitions of referenced architecture. An exhibition of his designs at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, in 2004 entitled, Zoomorphic, was showcased alongside the works of Norman Foster and Santiago Calatrava, positioning Tsui among those international architects who align their work with the intrinsic efficiency and beautiful diversity of nature.

Criticism of his work

Tsui’s work has been criticized for:

• Not fitting in to the accepted definitions of architecture
• Being difficult to accommodate linear furniture
• Attracting too much attention to the neighborhood
• Being too difficult to build
• Requiring unconventional construction methods that make it difficult to find capable contractors to realize the designs

Recent projects

In the USA, Tsui’s work centers on building the Telos School and Laboratory, the Telos Public Visitation Center and the ZED (Zero Energy Dwelling), all to be located in and around Mount Shasta, California, USA. In China, he is involved with design competitions and ecological tourism parks. He developed large apartment complexes based upon the African Termite’s Nest, which is being researched by two teams at the South China University of Science and Technology in Guangzhou, China. He has also designed an ecological icon, The Shenzhen Tower, for the city of Shenzhen, China, which features 92 large windmills, 70,000 square meters of solar panels and a floating forest of Mangrove trees - enough to clean the waters of the entire Shenzhen Bay. Tsui’s China work includes projects that demonstrate the functional superiority of nature-based shapes and materials under extreme disaster force circumstances. In this capacity, he presents architectural solutions to earthquakes, typhoons, tsunami wave destruction, hurricanes and fire. Believing that education is the most effective way to change behaviors and attitudes, Dr. Tsui has implemented an education program for grade school, middle school, high school and college students that develops the individual imagination and innovative thinking and equips students with “anticipatory thinking.” Such thinking develops the capacity to anticipate concerns and problems in the future, before they exist. He continues to give presentations to professors and government officials about behavioral change, preservation of the natural environment and creating a new vocabulary for the built environment.

The office and apprentices

Dr. Eugene Tsui has a reputation for educating, nurturing and mentoring students. He has an ongoing internship apprentice program with students coming from various continents of the world. Many are now deans of university departments, practicing architects, authors, ecology activists, contractors, city planners and corporate executives. He has taken on individuals with no design education or training and encouraged them to develop their design skills. Many of his apprentices have gone on to prominent universities and renowned international design firms. Tsui’s office atmosphere is much like a graduate design studio at the Paris Beaux Arts — it is a lively, activity-filled environment with ever-present music, noisy tools and vigorous discussion. Currently he is organizing a China/USA design student exchange program between the universities in California and various Chinese universities in conjunction with a professional development internship program.

Other activities

Dr. Tsui’s breadth of endeavors is difficult to categorize. He excels at seemingly unrelated activities yet has been featured in many documentary films discussing the vital importance of interrelating these activities to the benefit of all. This interdisciplinary outlook is perhaps the most difficult to understand. As a World and Senior Olympics Champion athlete (gymnastics and amateur boxing) he speaks frequently and publicly about the human body as a resource of functional design ideas which can be applied to many other fields such as architecture, industrial design, clothing design, city planning, inventions, music and language. In his public presentations he often performs on the piano and drums and gives a demonstration in boxing to emphasize the issue of every individual following their interests and passions in life in order to relish diversity and refrain from specialization.

Documentary films

Tsui has been, and continues to be, featured globally in many documentary television programs such as National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, The History Channel, MTV, The Disney Channel, The BBC, PBS, CNN, NBC, China CCTV Television, India Television, Euro Television, Television Morocco and many others. He has been the subject of documentary films in the USA, Canada, France, Japan and China. French film Director, Laurent Le Gall, has been filming a feature documentary on Tsui for the past five years. A twelve part documentary film is being organized by MCTV Channel 15 in Mount Shasta, California. Dr. Tsui also composes and performs music for documentary films having completed, in 2010, two soundtracks for USA multiple award-winning film Director, Melody Miller.

The future

Tsui's design school and laboratory in Mount Shasta, California and in Shenzhen, China will become the permanent education and experimentation facility for his work in the East and the West. He is developing a twelve part television series whose episodes explore the topics of biologic architecture, city and regional planning, nature and science, music, fine art, education, athletics, ecological thinking, biographic life, design, every-day life and humanity’s present and future. He is also writing a new book regarding the ecological state of the planet and the need for humanity to radically change our attitudes about life, design and success. Dr. Tsui’s work is gaining more widespread understanding and support from established institutions and universities. His books have been voted, “recommended reading”, by the Royal Institute of British Architects and the American Institute of Building Design. Prominent universities are seeking his insights and practical knowledge to teach the new generation of students the application of nature’s principles to survive the future. He continues to lecture widely to audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Bibliography

• The Urgency of Change, Beijing Building and Architecture Press, 2002
• Shenzhen Ecological Park Concept Book, Shenzhen University Press, 2001
• World Architecture Review - Works of Eugene Tsui, 2000
• Evolutionary Architecture: Nature as a Basis for Design, John Wiley & Sons, 1999
• World Architecture Review; Learning From Nature Before It Is Too Late, October 2010 Issue
• World Architecture Review; Leave No Trace: The Educative Workshop of Eugene Tssui in China, October 2011 issue

Research and education laboratories

• South China University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou, China
• Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China
• Telos Laboratories, Mount Shasta, California, USA
• Yu Cai School, Shenzhen, China.

Buildings and designs

• Tsui Residence
• Watsu Center
• Reyes Residence
• Emeryville Nature Study Center
• The Ecological House of the Future
• The Shenzhen Tower
• Telos School and Laboratory
• The Nexus Mobile Floating Sea City
• Ultima Two Mile High Tower
• Strait of Gibraltar Floating Bridge
• Telos School and Visitation Center
• The Dubai Crescent Moon of the Green Oasis Building

Awards

• National Endowment For The Arts Award
• National Endowment For The Arts Travel Award
• Graham Foundation Advanced Arts Award
• Gold Medal of the USA Craftsman’s Guild
• Overall Multiple Grand Prize of the California State Fair
• AIA Award For Most Exciting Design
• Dallas: RE-Vision Competition, Honorable Mention for Most Visionary Design
• Four Time Senior Olympic Gymnastics All Around Champion (1996 through 2002)
• Six Time Amateur Boxing World Champion (2005 through 2011)
• Eight-Time Presidential Sports Award winner (Awarded by US Presidents, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush)

Facts

• Since 1974, Eugene Tsui has kept continuous notebooks for drawings and writings. He writes in such a way that the first line is read from left-to-right, the second line; right-to-left; the third line; left-to-right; the fourth line, right-to-left; and so on. He says this causes less strain on the eyes and utilizes the left and right brain equally owing to the use of spatial and linear perception in sequence. He prefers drawing with a ballpoint pen on archival paper. There are nearly 100 volumes of notebooks to date.

• Eugene eats every other day. He says there are numerous reasons for this; it's an easy way to control one's weight (Eugene is competitive boxer), he consumes half the amount of natural resources from the planet, his organic waste is reduced by 65% (Ecological reasons). It creates much less friction and strain on one's structure and joints (Physiological reasons). There is a noticeable increase in clarity and energy (Productivity reasons). He saves 1100 hours a year, which can now be used for productive work. Laboratory animals on such calorie restrictive diets have been known to live up to 50% longer lives (Longevity reasons). He believes that this will reduce and/or eliminate Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer and other maladies (Medical reasons).

• Contrary to public opinion, Eugene Tsui values sleep; sleeping at least 8 hours per day when possible. If he can sleep longer, he will. His emphasis on sleep is the knowledge that the body, the heart and the brain, need rest to be fully efficient. He believes that if the body is under rigorous training, then it must repair its muscle fibers and nerves, or risk injury. Through 20 years of Olympic level gymnastics training and 6 years of World Championship level amateur boxing, Eugene has had almost every part of his body injured. Now he avoids injury conscientiously.

• He designs his own clothes--which he wears to test out their functionality, design details and ease of wearing. He does not wear his own designs when working in field on a construction site, during boardroom meetings or at athletic competitions (to minimize distractions). Dr. Tsui is fond of capes—he's designed 6 of them—and wears them; and Mongolian/Russian military boots. He designs everything from sunglasses to motorcycle uniforms to photovoltaic suits. He's won USA grand prizes for his clothing designs and works with a master tailor in China to create them.

• Even though he travels annually across the globe he does not enjoy traveling; preferring to stay in one place to create building designs, inventions, art works, educational programs, compose music, clothing, engage physical training, working with his students and interns, whatever it may be; he prefers to be where he is, without moving from place-to-place. He is keen to the fact that the gas consumed for a single trans-oceanic flight is equivalent to driving a car for a year. He has no interest in "seeing the world", saying, "The world of nature--of discovery, and originating what has never existed before, is far more fascinating for me, nothing compares with it. It is the inner purpose of all human beings. It is why we are here".

• Eugene Tsui's resting pulse is 36 beats per minute. Tsui was not born this way. He says it is the result of his intensive athletic training since he was 15 years old. It is a result of his personal goals to make his body and mind as efficient as possible and to create the highest body strength-to-weight ratio possible.

• Eugene is nearly fully ambidextrous. In high school he sometimes wrote with his left hand. He was a university intramural fencing champion and fenced with his left hand. He boxes both conventional style and South Paw (leading with the right hand). He favors sports and musical instruments that use the right and left hands equally.

Quotations

• "You are the builder of your dreams. You are the master of your destiny".

• "Do not as others do and create things that others dare not dream about".

• "Dare to reveal the power of your own genius and triumph over the impossible".

• "The reach for freedom is the noble embodiment of human dignity".

• "Everything matters--and nothing matters--except that life is a precious gift and every moment is a step towards eternity"

• "To be fully alive you must question and examine your assumptions and expectations--and be ready to discard them and begin afresh"

• "We are all children--and it is essential that we forever retain our intrinsic innocence-- so that we are able to express the truth of our inner selves and repel the criticisms of unquestioned assumption and the opinions of ignorant prejudice"

• "No machine can compare with the ability of the human hand and 10,000 computers will never comprehend the design intelligence of a single blade of grass".

• "You will never find happiness until you commit your life to a purpose far greater than yourself".

• "I am resigned to the possibility that my work will not be fully understood for many, many generations to come. Just as nature's intelligence shall not be fully comprehended for centuries".

• "I am the master of my destiny. I am the champion of my dreams. I shall go where others dare not. I shall exceed expectation. I shall see what has never been seen".

• "We limit ourselves by our own self-imposed habits and unquestioned assumptions. And many of them lead to ill health and our premature death".

• "Talent is always seeking ways to show itself. Genius is concerned with finding solutions to profound problems".

• "Our lives are enslaved by the constant preoccupation with comfort, convenience, quickness and image--and we shall only hasten our death by such endeavors".

• "If you have doubts about who I am and what I do, then spend a few days with me, see what I do, how I think, what I value, what I eat, how I treat others, then, you will be able to judge truthfully--and you will see the truth of my life and character".

External links

• Tsui Design and Research
• Eugene Tsui Lecture Series.