Yeang, Ken

Yeang, Ken

(1948–)Malaysian architect and writer best known for developing environmental design solutions for high-rise buildings in the tropics. As a principal in T. R. Hamzah and Yeang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, since 1975, he has been instrumental in developing passive-mode low energy skyscrapers, called bioclimatic skyscrapers. Yeang is regarded as the father or inventor of the bioclimatic skyscraper, largely the result of his book, The Skyscraper: Bioclimatically Considered. Yeang’s architecture is based on his theoretical ecological studies, published in The Green Skyscraper: The Basis for Designing Ecological Sustainable Buildings. Early experiments include the Roof-Roof House (illus.), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1985), providing a louvered umbrella structure over the building. As a consequence of his strong beliefs in ecomimicry, Yeang’s design projects focus on achieving benign and seamless biointegration that includes reduced or zero dependency on nonrenewable sources of energy, enhanced ecological nexus through devices such as eco-land bridges, ecoundercrofts, vertical landscaping, ecocells, green living walls, ecological corridors and fingers that reach into the landscape and toward the sky at the same time. Some of the devices he uses in his builtforms include light shelves, light pipes, skycourts, vertical linked enclosed green atriums, and windscoops.