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Li HanVirginia Commonwealth Universit in Qatar

Li [email protected]

Mobile: 55036764

Li Han obtained a Bachelor Degree in Interior Architecture from Tongji University in China and a Master of Science in design studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After finishing her undergraduate study she moved to Singapore and worked for various design firms as an interior designer. Currently she holds a full-time teaching position at Virginia Commonwealth University—Qatar. She passed the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) examination in 2007 in USA. Her multiple talents in design communication include manual and digital rendering, virtual environments and 3D printing. Her current research interests focus on design methodology. Her recent research topics include “Hybridization: Traditional Chinese Design and the Contemporary Social Environment” and “Mathematics and design.”


Chinese Garden is a design project that focuses on hybridized creativity. This project seeks to investigate how design and other creative disciplines might inspire and inform each other. The boundary of “being Chinese” has been blurred through the integration of various elements, materials and a hybridized design process. The design started from several pieces of music by Olivier Messiaen, which influenced the designer in creating an abstract Chinese painting and then a design composition. During the design process the Chinese elements have been disguised and exposed simultaneously.

Chinese Garden Chinese Garden is a design project that focuses on hybridized quality. There are certain numbers of constructs that are relevant to many creative disciplines; however, they are employed in different ways. For example, rhythm may have a different meaning in music than in design. This project seeks to investigate how design and other creative disciplines might inspire and inform each other. The boundary of being Chinese has been blurred through the integration of various elements, materials and hybridized design process, starting from several pieces of music by Olivier Messiaen which influenced the designer in creating an abstract Chinese painting and then a design composition. During the design process the Chinese elements have been disguised and

exposed simultaneously.


Rhino and Vray. 2014


The new courtyard houses are the offspring of the traditional house through hybridization. The juxtaposition of the old and the new seem to suggest that visual continuity and harmony can be easily achieved, even though the building technique and the use of materials are different. Unlike the modern apartment buildings, which protrude out from the tranquil skyline of traditional Si He Yuan, the new hybridized courtyard houses are more sensitive and less overpowering to the existing environment.

Hybridization allowed the designer to easily extend the design thinking and take advantage of height where the staircase is combined with the wardrobe and bathroom. Two floating structures resembling the Chinese roof design are used again to provide the sense of enclosure for the open concept bathroom and bed, and to create spaces within the space. They also function as the light source. Semi-transparent materials and carved panels are used to allow light to penetrate.

Courtyard Houses


Hybridization: Traditional Chinese Design and the Contemporary Social Environment

The purpose of this research is to examine hybridized methodology through a case study on traditional Chinese design and the contemporary social and economic environment. The design issues discussed in this research focus on a broader sense of being Chinese and contemporary. Will a hybridized method generate more originality? How can this methodology be implemented? Given our complex living conditions, will crossbreeding in design provide more adaptive solutions? These questions can be answered through a case study which intentionally employs hybridized methods.

The first question to ask before this research begins is, why employ hybridized methods?In the natural world, hybrids often outperform their parents. Previous cognitive psychological research on creativity suggests that the generative capacity of the human brain might specifically result from combinatorial processes (Runco 2007, 109). The assumption of this research is that a model of hybridization can assist designers in generating ideas and solutions more efficiently and in responding to the ever-changing social environment more effectively. Through my personal experience, working on various art and design projects related to hybridization, I believe that this research could benefit designers who are often confronted with cultural sensitivity and highly hybridized social and living conditions.

The environment is a key factor that influences design. Sternberg (1996) believed that environment is one of the resources for creativity. Therefore, the change of social space and natural environment has a dramatic impact on design. This research consists of three design projects based on a research model with three phases—definition, employment and evaluation. The first step is to identify the design genes—the elements that can be integrated into the new, hybridized design. The second step, employment, is to modify and merge the genes by applying treatments. These treatments are selected to reflect current social dynamics and structures in Mainland China. The purpose of these projects is to implement hybridized methodology and to understand its full potential in various social, economic and political environments.

The goal of this research is to demonstrate a method of upcycling existing design elements so that social and cultural continuity are maintained and amplified.



Mixed Media. 2012


Red China Red China is an exploration of Chinese architecture and interior design by Li Han, a Chinese designer and an assistant professor from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar.

Red has many layers of meanings in Chinese culture. It is a thread that links many events in Chinese history. The color is inseparable with Chinese culture, from wedding dress, traditional doors and columns, and the national flag, to modern political movements. Red is auspicious, captive, fascinating, festive, revolutionary and emotional for the Chinese. Rhino and Vray. 2015


Chinese society, while it’s an ancient civilizations, is undergoing a transition of modernization. It is mingling the old and new, past and future, Chinese and Non-Chinese, tradition and adventure, and is becoming hybridized at all levels. Red China captures the hybridized quality of Chinese society and questions it through interior and architecture design using hybridized methods, mingling contemporary and traditional, metallic material and Chinese calligraphy stroke, interior and exterior, as well as poetry and photos. Red is the common thread that links a series of design works—sometimes on the road, sometimes on the ground, sometimes on the columns, and sometimes on the roof.

In addition, through a lens focused on Chinese culture, the Red China series also asks some of the fundamental questions prevalent in the field of design. Is hybridization an inevitable result of a modern society? Will it help us to understand cultural phenomena and design outcomes? Have designers become more conscious while employing hybridization as a designing tool? Or have designers been influenced by the diverse world surrounding them?



Digital Modeling and Renderings

Proposal for Challenge 22 Qatar. Grasshopper and Vray. 2015


3D Max. 2003


3D Viz. 2004


Manual Renderings Freehand Sketch Rendered with Markers 2018


Freehand Tracing and Rendered with Markers. 2018


Freehand Sketch Rendered with Markers 2012


Color Pencil. 1995


Air Brush. 1995 Service Apartment Lobby Design

Air Brush. 1997 Water Color. 1995

Water Color. 1993

Hotel Facade


3D Printing


Furniture Design and Making


Professional Practice (Construction Documents)

2001 @ HP & Partners


2001 @ HP & Partners


http://www.ogc.com.sg/images/2013/1_OGCFacadeS.jpg. Photo ©Orchard Grand Court.

http://cdn3.agoda.net/hotelimages/443/443313/443313_13111817430017615764_STD.jpg. Photo ©Orchard Grand Court.

http://hotels.online.com.sg/DB/hotelpics/singapore/Orchard_Parade_Hotel-Lobby.jpg. Photo ©Orchard Grand Court.

Hotels in Singapore

Orchard Grand CourtOrchard Parade Hotel

1997 @ Chesuyan Interior Design & Decoration




[email protected] Mobile: 974-55036764