Wendy W Fok

CREATIVE DIRECTOR // FOUNDER // PERIPATETIC LEARNER

The endeavours of Wendy W Fok’s research-based ventures are dedicated to the creation of designs interlaced within the principles of procedural-based mathematics, logics, and material studies, within the field of architecture, digital media, and design. Her designs are substantiated through explorations between the cross-pollination of spatial installation arts and novel architectural innovations embedded within international urban cityscapes.

Wendy W Fok, trained as an architect, is the creative director/founder of WE-DESIGNS (Architecture/Creative Strategy) and Resilient Modular Systems, PBC (Socially Missioned Venture). She was commissioned as the lead designer of the Hong Kong Pavilion ‘Sensorial Estates’ for the London Design Biennale and ‘Sensorial Estates: Hyper-Density vs Public-Privacy‘ for deTour PMQ in Hong Kong (2018). Nominated and selected as a fellow at the Urban Design Forum (2018), she was featured as Autodesk Remake’s list of 25 Women in Reality Computing (2017), was a winner of the Autodesk Pier 9 AiR Fellowship (2016), Young CAADRIA Award (2015), Digital Kluge Fellowship awarded by the Library of Congress (2014/15), the One Club (previously Art Director’s Club of New York’s) ADC Young Guns 11 Award (2013), AIA (American Institute of Architects) Dallas “Express Yourself” Women in Architecture Award (2013), and selected designer of the Perspective 40 under 40 Award (2011) and the Hong Kong Young Design Talent Award (2009). Fok holds a Doctor of Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design with collaborating department at the Harvard Law School, a Master of Architecture and Certification of Urban Policy/Planning from Princeton University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with a Concentration in Economics (Statistics) from Barnard College, Columbia University.

Notably, WE-DESIGNS has been selected by Twenty+Change (co-curated by Heather Dubbeldam and Lola Sheppard) as 1 of 20 Emerging Canadian Design Practices (2011); Meanwhile, Fok has independently been selected as a Western Living Designer of the Year – Ones to Watch – Maker Category (2016) and 1 of 13 DX (Design Exchange) Emerging Talent Awards (2013/14) across Canada. In the business of design and architecture, Fok has auspiciously worked with and been mentored by Wolf Prix of Coop-Himmelblau, Patrik Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects, Greg Lynn of GL Form, Jesse Reiser of RUR Architecture, Hani Rashid of Asymptote, among other acclaimed architects and designers. In the design of business and entrepreneurship, Fok had been mentored by Prof Joe Lassiter of the Harvard Business School, Natasha Jen of Pentagram, Diego Rodriguez of IDEO, Chaki Ng of Viacom, Bre Pettis of Makerbot, David Belt of New Lab, among other savvy entrepreneurs.

Along with her practice, Fok is a full-time Assistant Professor of Integrated Design at Parsons School of Design Strategies (SDS). Fok is a committee member of the Redefining Luxury Initiative and lead faculty member of the kick-off conference on October 5, 2018. She was previously a co-faculty member with Prof Jessica Corr and Prof Ketty Maisonrouge on a course supported by the Luxury Education Foundation partnered with the Columbia Business School (Fall 2016). Fok completed her Doctor of Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. In parallel with her doctoral research, Fok was involved as a Teaching Fellow for CopyrightX, under the guidance of Prof William “Terry” Fisher of the Harvard Law School, and a pioneer in the Digital Problem Solving Initiative (DPSI) with Peter Suber at the Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Her doctoral research is an investigative approach between intellectual property issues of ownership / authorship of digital / real property in computational innovation, and ethical / equitable application of technical methods within open innovation, digital fabrication, and commodisation for the built environment.

Fok has an international background from Vienna, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Canada. Her experiential and sensorial art installations have been displayed in Singapore, Paris, London, Dubai, Vancouver, Toronto, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York, Athens, Venice, and Prague. She has been commissioned on several international architectural projects, exhibitions, and competitions — including the Hong Kong Pavilion for the London Design Biennale (2018), Boston Innovation HUBWeek (2015), Beijing Design Biennale (2014), Asia Society Hong Kong Center “Imminent Domain” Exhibition Chief Curated by Fumio Nanjo Director of the Mori Art Museum (2013), an Exhibition and Residency at Cité internationale des arts Paris funded by the Académie D’Architecture in Paris (2013), the London Design Festival TENT (2012/17), Toronto International Design Festival (2012), HKSZ Bi-City Biennale (2011/12), 12th/13th/16th La Biennale di Venezia (2010/12/18), the Shanghai Expo (2010), Athens Fringe Festival (2009), and Lower East Side Tenement Museum (2004/05). Fok has also been invited to several Architectural Association (AA) Visiting Schools, SXSW Interactive, among other prestigious design workshops internationally.

Fok’s interests are toward the investigations of contextual and content-related natures of digital-media and design-fabrication, partnered with cradle-to-cradle material explorations that compliment scaled prototypes within architectural design. Meanwhile, her design methodology is to challenge the dynamic significance in structuring and mapping the ideals of art, architecture, and urbanism within the processes of [design | optimisation | fabrication] for resilient planning, interactive design, material research, and alternative methods of fabrication/production with progressive aims within the built environment.

On her spare time, Fok is the founder and administrator of (C)ODE-(C)OLLECTIVE (a collective forum for digital learning, of digital media / design tools, which pose as an educational and developing archive site to formulate the critical utility of digital design), Special Editions Editor of IJAC (International Journal of Architectural Computing), immediate past Overseas Editor for the a+a magazine (published by the Architectural Society of China), and co-editor of an AD Journal, published by Wiley, titled “Digital Property: Open Source Architecture“, with Professor Antoine Picon, of the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

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