The Filipino architecture studio Visionarch, founded by IE graduate Daniel Terence Yu, was ranked among the world 100 architects 2019 by Building Design, https://www.bdonline.co.uk/wa-100.Daniel graduated from the Master in Architectural Management and Design, a blended part-time program, in 2017. For Daniel, this recognition means a lot: “Having our home base located in a developing country, the Philippines, and be recognized as one of the top firms in the world for us is a big achievement. The emerging markets in Southeast Asia have wonderful growth potential, it’s in this market that we want to make a big difference, as countries open up and integrate and do more business with each other.”

For upcoming architectural entrepreneurs, as we curate them at IE University, he has the following advice: Growing an architectural firm is a very slow and tedious process. To me, it wasn’t the one-time iconic project that will propel you to the top. Each project big or small works to strengthen your knowledge and makes you more sensitive as a designer to eventually do the great things. Be patient it will come.”

As well in January, the IE School of Architecture celebrated it’s first Venture Day on Housing of the Future in Singapore. More than 150 participants followed the discussions with Martha Thorne, Executive Director of the Pritzker Price and Dean of the School, Robbie Antonio, CEO Revolution Precrafted, Arthur Huang, founder of Miniwiz, Shirin Tiraz, COO of WOHA Architects, Jose Martos, CEO Saint-Gobain, Luca Dotti, CEO of Noon Capital and several investors into smart solutions. The audience followed the pitches from 5 pre-selected start-ups and saw PTGEM, a visualization solution for the internet of things, geolocated and in 3D win the competition. 

We are excited to see many exciting things happening for architects and designers in Asia, powered by the IE School of Architecture & Design, https://www.ie.edu/school-architecture-design/.