Ying-yu Hung, FASLA
Category: Works
SWA, Los Angeles, California

Ying-yu Hung, of SWA, received her nomination, in Works, from the Southern California Chapter. In her two decades of practice, Hung has employed her visionary design skills to transform derelict parcels into beautiful, active public spaces. Pushing through design constraints with tenacity and creativity, she realizes her concepts through innovative material applications that meet challenging budgets and site conditions. The places she brings to life empower communities and ignite their imagination of what is possible when people work together to improve their neighborhoods. Hung's design process includes a search for a community's desires by listening and gathering information through conversations, research, site observations and public outreach. She is active in academia as an instructor and mentor to the next generation of landscape architects and is also a highly regarded author on contemporary issues. She challenges students to tackle social and environmental problems, such as gentrification and climate change, leading through the example of her work which spans the globe from California, Texas and Pennsylvania to her Gubei Pedestrian Promenade in Shanghai.