Eugene Tssui

Eugene Tsui (born Eugene Tsui, 1954) is an architect based in Emeryville, California and Shenzhen, China. He apprenticed under architect Bruce Goff and Frei Otto, received a bachelor of architecture from the University of Oregon, along with graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley where he earned two masters and a doctorate. Founder of the Biologic movement of the 2000’s, Tssui specializes in nature-influenced architecture, preferring shapes and forms utilized by living creatures and natural constructions, to standard rectilinear designs.

EARLY YEARS

Eugene Tssui was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Chinese parents, Yaw Tzong Tsui, father, from Wuhu, China, and Fong Wen Ching, mother, from Beijing, China. His father was a member of the World War Two fighter squadron, the Flying Tigers, and when they disbanded, won a scholarship to Cornell University, and was later, a research scientist at Honeywell, 3M Company and Hydro Quebec, Canada, until his retirement. His mother was a triple-sports team captain in soccer, basketball and volleyball, at a time (1940’s) when women were discouraged from sports participation. She was also a trained Beijing Opera singer and dancer and later became a Physical Therapist, in the USA, directing programs in hospitals and convalescent homes in Minnesota and California.

Tssui was an only-child who, from a very early age, loved to draw and build models out of cardboard boxes. His mother encouraged his interests in drawing, painting, music and sports, while his father, discouraged these activities, in favor of academics and scholarship. Tssui began piano lessons with a renowned pianist from France, who had won the Grand Prize in Piano Performance, from the Paris Conservatory of Music. He later took up the drum kit, forming and performing with several professional bands, and, later, studied the Flamenco Guitar, eventually being named by the Spanish gypsies of Tarifa, Spain, as, El Nino De La Chine. He was also the principal male dancer of the Minneapolis Flamenco Dance Troup, studied Praying Mantis Kung-Fu, became proficient in competitive swimming, reaching the Minnesota State Swimming Championships, and also studied Chinese internal medicine and acupuncture, all, before his high school graduation. While in high school, Tssui invented the foot-tunable conga drum, and a portable body-strengthening apparatus. His dedication to architectural design occurred when he entered a national architectural design competition and won Honorable Mention for the “Most Exciting Design”. Upon graduation from high school, he chose not to enter a university and sought employment as an intern architect, eventually becoming Assistant to the Senior Coordinator of Construction of the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympic Games Committee.

Tssui holds an Interdisciplinary Doctorate (Architecture and Education) and Master’s degrees in Architecture and City and Regional Planning, from the University of California, Berkeley, 1989; Attended Columbia University Graduate School of Design, 1976, and the University of Oregon (Professional Bachelor of Architecture degree) 1981; completed a 6-year apprenticeship with Bruce Goff, architect, Tyler, Texas, 1976 to 1982, and, Dr. Frei Otto, architect, Stuttgart, Germany, 1984; in private practice, Emeryville, California, and Shenzhen, China, since 1990 and 1999, respectively .

CAREER

His current design offices are located in Emeryville, California; Mount Shasta, California; and Shenzhen, China. He was a Visiting Scholar at South China University of Science and Technology, 2010 and 2011, a Visiting Foreign Professor of Architecture, 2012 and 2013, at Harbin University Institute of Technology, Shenzhen Graduate Campus; and is currently a Fellow and Author, at Beijing University, Shenzhen Graduate Campus, and was a 2012 and 2013 Research Scholar, at Harvard University, studying Mongolian culture and the writings and history of Genghis Khan; and has been a Senior Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Sustainability. He has engaged architectural projects in the USA, Europe, Africa and China.

POLYMATH NONPAREIL

What makes Tssui’s work so diverse and his approach, so unique, is his interdisciplinary way of thinking or, what he calls, “anticipatory” thinking, that is, he engages in a multitude of different interests and gains knowledge and experience about these topics, to very profound levels, and then uses this knowledge to cross-fertilize ideas to develop them in ways not normally anticipated. Part of this uniqueness is the extreme variety of his endeavors; the study of medicine to develop new ideas in architecture; engaging world-class athletics to develop unusual structural design; music composition as a basis for furniture design; educational programming to develop new city plans; and human physiology to develop clothing; these are few of the interconnected topic relationships used to originate new concepts. He seeks to anticipate the possibilities of the future through the interrelationships of the present. He has, for decades, engaged in the scientific study of nature and biological processes, as a basis for design and daily life. For instance, his observances in nature’s application of the strength-to-weight-ratio principal, in all living things, is applied daily, so that Tssui maintains his own body to be the lightest and strongest it can be—a universal fundamental for health.

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE

Tssui has stated that, “My style is not a style, but the working process by which nature itself, comes to create form and structure according to the specific environment and needs of the inhabitants”. He calls his approach, Biologic Architecture; Bio, meaning life, and logic, meaning, reason; as he applies the same logic to design, in conception and function and to accommodate inhabitants, as found in nature. This approach to design makes the concerns of aesthetic and stylistic expectation, and acceptability, irrelevant. He is concerned with creating high strength-to-weight ratios in all his works, withstanding disaster forces of all types, using local materials and labor, maximizing structural strength, aerodynamics, natural ventilation, adaptable volume changes such as opening-and-closing, expanding and contracting, elongating and shrinking, form-changing spaces, while minimizing or eliminating the use of energy, electricity, construction materials and ground coverage, and creating real solutions to the needs of the inhabitants of the building.

His philosophy is exemplified in the Florence and William Tsui Residence, in Berkeley, California, 1994, and the ZED (Zero Electricity Dwelling), in Mount Shasta, California 2013. He developed a large-scale city concept called the, Ultima Tower/Sky City, 1989, whereby an urban population of 1 million persons can comfortably occupy a two-mile high tower with a footprint of one-mile in diameter, thereby saving thousands of acres for agricultural and recreational use. The structure utilizes a unique system of in-tension suspended floors and the entire structure relies on a very lightweight tension-cable spinal design and applies unique passive solar and warm-air updraft technology.

His Nexus Mobile Floating Sea City, 1986, 5 miles long and 3 miles wide, for Dr. Rick Ernst, would be the world’s first sea city designed as an independent floating nation, to be constructed off the coast of Florida.

Another of Tssui’s large-scale designs, the Strait of Gibraltar Floating Bridge, 2005, has been viewed by the government executives and mayors of Tarifa, Spain, and Pointe Ceres, Morocco, and would connect the continents of Africa and Europe, across the Strait of Gibraltar.

His current projects include his own office, ecological activist and education center, using only human-powered electricity, in San Pablo, California, 2013; a non-electricity dwelling and conference center, in Mount Shasta, California, 2012, and a proposed 1000 foot high business incubator and government building, for San Leandro, California, 2014.

OTHER ASPECTS OF CAREER

Furniture & Clothing Design: Tssui’s furniture designs are developed through the physiological and morphological study of the human body and how to best support and accommodate it. Tssui has taken the approach that the human body is not meant to sit still, that it is designed to move and be active, and his furniture designs support this attitude. The designs are typically lightweight, tensile, curvilinear and express the character of the material with which it is made (4A).

Athletics: Eight-Time Presidential Sports Award Winner, conferred by US Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, 1995 through 2002; Eight-Time Amateur Boxing World Champion, 2005 through 2012, (69) and Four-Time Senior Olympics All-Around Gymnastics Champion (30), 1995 through 2002. Tssui’s elite level of physical training is integrated as an athletic way of life, and is used as a catalyst for developing ideas in other seemingly unrelated fields such as science, design, music, art and education. It is an application of his interdisciplinary way of thinking and living and he is engaged in educating others about this way of life.

Research Scientist and Inventor: Tssui is a scientist that never stops asking questions that lead the way for a very wide range of applied concepts. His office contains a research laboratory equipped with compound and stereoscopic microscopes, biological cutting tools, testing equipment and a wind-tunnel. His inquiries result in new functional design concepts that are applied to various fields including industrial design, furniture design, city planning, music, and invention concepts. Examples of developed inventions are; a light source that projects real flowing water patterns onto ceilings and walls; a mobile, wheeled training apparatus, for developing arm strength and coordination; warped-surface lighting fixtures made from cardboard and paper mache; suspended bed structures developed from spider web studies, and a pair of water floatation devices that allow the wearer to walk on the water’s surface.

Music Performance and Composition: Since 1968, as a drummer, concert pianist and Flamenco guitarist, in various local bands, as an international dance troupe accompanist and concert soloist on-stage, Tssui has been a professional musician, in the USA, Canada and China. He composes piano music and theme songs for movies.

Fine Artist: Tssui has painted oil-on-canvas portraitures for clients and experiments with various art mediums including ceramics, wood, paper mache, polished and raw stone, plaster and mixed mediums. He often collects scrap and found objects to create unusual sculpted works. He questions the picture-frame reference itself and re-shapes the presentation framing in ways more in the nature of the painted work itself. By questioning the assumptions of past art he creates new dimensions within his own experiments.

Industrial Designer: Applying the nature-based principles of ultimate strength-to-weight ratio, intended function, physiology and patterns of human movement, Tssui discovers new approaches to functional design that exceed past and present stylistics in favor of the logic of natural phenomena; what he calls,“Biologic” design. In short, his designs develop from answering the question, “What would nature do if it were given this problem?”

Clothing Designer: Tssui often calls his clothing designs, “Moving Architecture that is constantly adapting to the wearer and the environment”(F1). He has designed a photovoltaic suit that produces about 150 Watts of electricity and the electricity converter mechanism is in development. Tssui has prototype designs for aerodynamic, water-proof, self-ventilating, self-lighted bicycling and motorcycling one-piece suit/pant outfits and has produced many cape designs and athletic suits. He designs for men and women and is currently developing a ventilated shoe design that “exhales” air and “inhales” air with every step. He also has designs with fabrics made from laser-cut threads from plastic recycled bottles, and clothing that accommodates the naturally cold and hot areas of the human body and which take into account the flexing joints and movement of the body as a whole.

Public Lecturer: Tssui’s mission is to present the multi-dimensional problems we face and to provide solutions to save ourselves from the future environmental, economic and human health collapse that seems imminent in our lifetime. He provides solutions to disasters that cause buildings to kill hundreds of thousands of persons annually. He addresses the issues of ageism, gender inequality, bullying, obesity, consumer reliance, conformity, elitism and comfort-based living, and offers hope to a victimized world.

Mentor to Global Apprentices: Tssui has mentored over 500 global interns, and apprentices, over a 23 year period. His dedication to education and to supporting individuals to, “find their passion”, has often resulted in his students and interns pursuing entirely new careers and turning their backs on a career in architecture, and he is often overjoyed by the results. Many have become renowned fashion photographers, vehicle designers and manufacturers, industrial designers and Deans of universities.

Featured Personality on Global Television and Documentary Films: Tssui, has been featured on global television programs such as, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, The History Channel, CNN, PBS, MTV, The McNeil/Lehrer Report, NBC, ABC, Euro TV, TV Africa, CCTV China, Nippon TV Japan, India TV, and others. The current documentary film by Director Kyung Lee, [ http://www.telosmovie.com TELOS: The Fantastic World of Eugene Tssui], is circulating in Film Festivals worldwide, and two new films, by French Film Director, Laurent Le Gall, and American film director, Richard Durante, about Tssui, are currently in the works. He is fluent in Mandarin and English languages and knowledgeable with the German language. Tsui specializes in nature-influenced architecture, preferring shapes and forms inspired by living creatures and natural constructions to standard rectilinear designs. His currently built designs include the Watsu School at Harbin Hot Springs, several residential homes in the United States, and his firm's company headquarters in Emeryville.

Tsui is notable for a number of designs that he has proposed that remain unbuilt, including:

• the Gibraltar Bridge, which would span 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) and include a floating island equipped with wind-powered and underwater turbines, capable of powering most of Morocco and southern Spain;
• a 600-metre (2,000 ft)-tall observation tower in Shenzhen, China, equipped with over 92 eggbeater wind turbines capable of producing 5 megawatts of power each, and 50 panels of 1,400-square-metre (15,000 sq ft) photovoltaic solar panels, producing 11 megawatts, which was alternately proposed for Oakland, California;
• the two-mile-high Ultima Tower, which would house one million people over 500 floors.

External links

• Tsui Design and Research
• Eugene Tsui Lecture Series.
• Design for two mile high "Ultima Tower"