profile

LAAB is a laboratory of art and architecture for social and sustainable innovations.

©HenryF

From public space, architecture, and interior, to furniture, graphic, art, and digital craft, LAAB’s collective of 40+ architects, designers, artists, engineers, makers, and sociologists work with forward-thinking partners to bring visionary designs to life.

Led by Otto Ng and Yip Chun Hang, LAAB is named “Next Progressives”by the Architect Magazine and won “The Design Studio of the Year” of INDE Award.

©Erika Fung

LAAB’s vision is to build a creative platform for new ideas. Our experimental spirit goes hand in hand with pragmatism, which is paramount to bringing innovative ideas to life. We believe that experiment (實驗: [sat jim]) is the first step of turning new ideas into reality (實現: [sat jin]).

Innovation can be as big as making a building move, but it can also be as small as giving equal access to sunlight to everyone at work, or as humble as blending an art gallery into a rural village. It is not about what innovation is; it is about what it changes.

At LAAB, we strive to create spaces that are meaningful to its contexts and inhabitants, instead of adhering to a specific paradigm or aesthetic. We believe that architecture is a process of bringing people closer to nature, community, and culture. Caring for plants, cats, and salvaged wood is as important as listening to human needs.

Diverse Project Types

Co-led by Otto Ng and Chun Hang Yip, our collective of architects, designers, makers, and sociologists collaborate laterally to bring visionary designs to life. Our “Ah-ha!” moments occur at the intersections of disciplines — when architects think sociologically, when sociologists question urban design, and when engineers challenge designers.

Our highly collaborative team culture enables us to achieve designs like the transformable micro-apartment (Small Home Smart Home), the movable food kiosk (Harbour Kiosk), the sustainable café (T · CAFE), the photography-inspired gallery (f22 foto space), the digitally crafted shopping center (K11 MUSEA), the marketplace of the future (HKEX · Hong Kong Stock Exchange), the archive for Asian art history  (Asia Art Archive), and the comfortable home for stray animals (Animal Shelter for House of Joy and Mercy).

Diverse Expertise

Co-founders

©HenryF

Otto Ng

Design Director
BAAS (1st Hon) HKU . MArch MIT

Otto brought his experience from MIT and a number of leading firms in the US, UK, and Italy to bear on the inventive process of LAAB, envisioning the next generation of spatial design. He was also Assistant Professor at HKU lecturing on design computation, and was speaker at events organised by M+, Prada, Apple, Muji, and TEDx.

Chun Hang Yip

Architecture Director
BA Arch UC Berkeley .  MArch HKU . Authorized Person

Winner of Hong Kong Institute of Architects Young Architect Award, Hang is a Registered Architect (HKIA, RIBA) and an Authorized Person with decades of design and management experience.  As a LEED-AP, certified arborist, farmer, and florist, Hang is an environmentalist who seeks to integrate sustainable thinking in the design and making process at LAAB.

Clients & Collaborators

We work with forward-thinking clients to bring visionary ideas to life. Our collaborators range from arts organizations, lifestyle brands, and hospitality groups, to tech startups, financial companies, developers, public bodies, and universities.

Awards

LAAB has been recognized for design innovations and craftsmanship by various design communities, including the AIA International Region Awards, Architizer A+ Awards, the Japan Good Design Best 100, and the Archdaily Top 100.