Nigel Anthony READING – Design Director
BA Arch-Kingston | Dip Arch-Westminster
CPPA-Bartlett School University College London | ARB-UK | RIBA | LEED-GA
Synergising Simplexity
PROFILE: Form follows Flow
ARCHITECTURE | INTERIOR DESIGN | URBAN DESIGN-MASTERPLANNING
Beautiful Sustainable Design
How did London win the sustainability Olympics?
What makes British architecture Great and Green (asks the UKTI GREAT campaign)?
Da Vinci’s (other) Code: Asynsis-Constructal published in South China Morning Post
Hong Kong, Sunday 19 January 2014 http://www.scoop.it/t/asynsis-principle-constructal-law
Visionary Transcultural Glocal-savvy Sustainable Design: Ideas Realised – Poetic Pragmatism
Nigel Anthony Reading RIBA-LEED GA
Hong Kong-Australian raised, London-educated, ARB-UK-registered eurasian bilingual Senior Architect and Interior Designer with substantial Masterplanning and Landscape design expertise. Over a decade’s experience in the Asia-Pacific including 8 years in China, Hong Kong-Macau, with numerous consultant, industry and stakeholder network contacts. Design, construction and operations optimisation-method pioneer and sustainable design, glocal-savvy, thought-leader. Chartered member of the RIBA, founder member of RIBA-HK chapter, UCL Built Environment Club-HK+SH, Lighthouse Club HK and USGBC LEED GA accredited.
Recent successfully concept-designed projects: Disney Shanghai Resort Hotels H1&2, InterIKEA MegaMall Wuhan, Parkway 5 Star Private Hospital, Nantong River Walk Shopping Centre, Tianjin EcoCity Seasons City Mall for Keppel Land, Galaxy Cotai
Four recent exemplar projects from 2017 to 2020 (3 of the 4 being Green Buildings):
1. InterContinental HiEX Business 355-key Hotel SouthBank Melbourne. Proscenium-Theatre Concept Design, integrating modernist tower on retail podium which features heritage 1930′s Art Deco Opera Australia Rehearsal Studios. Successfully Initiated and led Clean Energy Finance Corporation investment and Green Star-Nabers 5 Star Certification. Hickory hybrid modular prefabrication construction method used (saving 30% on construction schedule), derived from my Barbican Modular Business Hotel design from a previous London consultancy (see Asynsis.com).
Referee for this as a Peer and also as a PM for Four Seasons: Savills PM – Kate Doherty: +61 418 430 433
https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/commercial/cefc-goes-after-hotel-efficiency/
2. Volkswagen China HQ Beijing (Worldʼs largest car company by sales in 2016 – https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38793253) – LEED Gold (ARC + ID) – combining 14 competing Divisions into one 3000pax HQ to boost innovation and productivity while reducing groupthink and silos, in the wake of Diesel-gate scandal.
70% Tender plus 3 addenda due to client briefing changes across the 14 Divisions.
As a global Green Design Champion and Complexity geometer, I persuaded them to go Green(er) and more Agile with a different bespoke-tailored Activity Based Working regime for each of the 14 divisions, plus achieved LEED Gold Certification, all following our DRIVE #EcoLivable City Concept Design theme of a city in microcosm, devised together with the VW branding Team.
Referee: Volkswagen-BMP PM – Steffen Gies: +86 139 1640 4427 scgies@yahoo.com
Invited by VW Project PM Leader to tour completed building by mid-Summer 2019.
https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news/stories/2019/04/china–all-under-one-roof.html
https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news/stories/2018/10/at-home-in-china.html
3. Four Seasons Hotel Circular Quay – SYD – 517 New Guest Rooms, Public Lobby Areas pending – full ID redesign and refurbishment to brutalist tower with Nantucket weatherboard-Queenslander nautical style. 100% Design to Construction Documentation, Construction Supervision, Contract Administration, Aconex Coordination-All Stakeholders, Answering RFIs, BCA, AS, DDA compliance, International Best Practice Defects Inspections Benchmarking. Managed a 40% increase in Contract Value over 6 months to just over 25% Practice Profit.
Referee: Associate ID in Charge – Marcin Zugaj: +61 434 945 482 mz061d@yahoo.com – BUILT Project General Manager – Josh Whittaker: +61 (0) 439 193 888 joshuawhittaker@built.com.au
https://luxegetaways.com/four-seasons-hotel-sydney/
https://theupsider.com.au/four-seasons-sydney-hotel/17329
4. One Sydney Harbour, 3 New Build towers of Exclusive High, Premium, Luxury and Penthouse Apartments for Lend Lease, with Renzo Piano – Green Star and Nabers rated. BCA, AS, DDA compliance, Tower R1 100% IFT Tender completed Jan 2019.
Towers R2 & 3 to replicate R1 benchmark over near-identical tower floor plans.
Additional R2 project phase passed to our consultant consortium as a client-offered variation, on basis of R1 performance, increasing project contract value to well over 15% Practice Profit.
Referee: Associate ID in Charge – Marcin Zugaj: +61 434 945 482 mz061d@yahoo.com
https://www.buildsydney.com/one-sydney-harbour-in-barangaroo-is-simply-stunning/
https://www.domain.com.au/news/sydneys-most-expensive-residence-has-sold-for-more-than-140-million-894214/
Previous notable milestones:
A. An iconic landmark tower, backed by UKTI as “big ticket, high value British design in China” - reinventing the wheel: Hong Kong Spin: http://www.styleonedigital.com/Nigel/hkspin/index.html
B. A new sustainable design principle of nature & culture – the geometric analogue of the Constructal law – Asynsis principle: http://asynsis.wordpress.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/Asynsis/134142719983026
C. Grand Hyatt Macau + Kerry Parkside by Shangri-La (LEED Gold): http://cityofdreamsmacau.com http://kerryparkside.com
D. The London Overground East London Line and stations, which Mayor Boris Johnson credits for London winning the 2012 Olympic games:
Initiated/designed/managed and led (A&D with ARUP), by Nigel Reading RIBA, Design Director, ASYNSIS Architecture + Design
Kerry Parkside －The practical sustainable building design business advantages? Kerry Hotel by Shangri-La, LEED Gold Certified under Asynsis Architecture + Design’s design director Nigel Reading’s leadership. The result? 25-30% energy cost (water, electricity, gas) savings, increased building value and tenancy rates, increased occupier well-being, health and productivity, CSR/PR-marketing benefits and reduced carbon emissions. A China benchmarking win-win-win for “people, profit, planet”.
Winner: Best Homes Shanghai 2012 – Kerry Apartments by Shangri-La http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/contests/best-homes-shanghai-2012
Enterprise Initiative in Design Award, Department of Trade and Industry, London, Published in Architect’s Journal and Architectural Design Magazines, London, UK 1995-97, HKIA Journal (Monument for 1997 – Hong Kong Spin as Zhong-Phi), UPI, South China Morning Post, China Briefing, Xinhua-China.com, China Daily – 2007-2014.
5D Visionary Transformative Glocal Architecture:
Design | Delivery | Development | Discourse | Diversity
Design
The last 5 years has seen Nigel initiating concept designs for an iconic, landmark observation tower by the harbour in Hong Kong (The Hong Kong Spin – backed by UKTI as an example of “high value big-ticket” British design excellence in China, engineered by ARUP), Shanghai World Expo 2010 China pavilions (Hebei + Xinjiang), Shanghai Swirl Huangpu river bridges proposal (also engineered by ARUP), and a Site Masterplan, Art Museum, Temple and Client Reception building for a large new cemetery for
Shanghai, a stone and curtain wall construction industrial park, business hotel and VIP Guest villa, Hot Springs Resort plus a high-end sports fashion boutique for a HK client in Xujiahui, Grand Gateway, Shanghai. The same client is next looking to develop a shopping centre in Tianjin with Asynsis as concept architects.
He is also designing a dockside Shopping Centre for an urban regeneration scheme in Dalian, a lakeside city masterplan in Wanzhou, Chongqing, a suite of riverside teahouse pavilions and clubhouses in Qingdai plus exclusive apartments and residential developments in Beijing and Shanxi.
Most recent work includes Galaxy Cotai, InterIKEA Wuhan, Disney Resort Shanghai Hotels H1&H2 and a Parkway Private Hospital in Pudong new Area, Shanghai.
A Mozart opera set design is also in the pipeline.
His Asynsis principle “design as (arts bridge to) science” approach merges the contemporary with the contextual, synergising unique, bespoke-tailored, culturally-resonant, beautiful, evocative, efficient, optimal & sustainability-informed designs that add maximum value to stakeholder’s projects and to client brands; by best facilitating their resource flows, points of extraordinary difference and competitive advantage. The results are thereby always far more than the sum of their parts, since with “synergized simplexity”, “more for less” and “form follows flow”, simplicity is always, the ultimate sophistication.
Delivery
Nigel has over twenty five years of UK, Australian and Hong Kong professional practice experience of which fifteen years has been as a Project Architect and Team Leader on several large scale complex projects in both the public and private sectors: ranging through civic, arts, theatre, commercial, merchant banking, broadcast, multimedia, transport, health, religious, residential, hotel, restaurant, retail and leisure developments. This experience includes the initial concepts, competitions and bids, project inception and implementation right through to site supervision and completion.
Nigel has also worked on both the Client and Consultant side of the design and construction process, giving him unique insights into both roles.
He is experienced across the full range of architectural services from conceptual design and consultancy, feasibility studies to project and contract administration, client and authority liaison, detailed consultant coordination to full documentation production, management and site supervision.
This gives him exceptional versatility because of the broad scope and depth of his experience. He has instigated, designed and led several LEED/BREEAM–rated sustainable projects in the UK (BBC), India (Maitreya) and China (Kerry Parkside, Pudong New Area-Shanghai).
Development
Many recent Design and Delivery projects entailed his presentation and/or business development pitching to stakeholders including clients, government ministers, statutory authorities and in the case of Hong Kong Spin, the international media.
Furthermore, his network includes stakeholders including several leading Hong Kong developers with high profiles in China and the wider region as a result of the presentations on Hong Kong Spin, including Kerry Properties, Wharf, Wheelock, Sun Hung Kai, Nan Fung, Shui On and USI, amongst others. Besides some of the above developers, he also pitched HKS to the HK SAR government at senior ministerial level, to the statutory authorities, tourism commission and board, members of Legco and to the international media at the press conference held at the Excelsior Hotel, Causeway Bay. Business development and government liaison for HK and the China/East Asia region is now second-nature. He has also recently completed a UKTI Architect’s Trade mission to Chongqing and Changsha. He has several important high level statutory and academic contacts in Shanghai and HK as well, including at Tongj University, ECADI, Shanghai and Hong Kong Universities at Dean and Professor level. These contacts routinely lead to new project developments, often via initial master planning commissions or invited bids.
Nigel is also a founding member of the Hong Kong Chapter of the RIBA & of the UCL Built Environment Clubs – in Hong Kong & Shanghai, both initiated in 2012.
Discourse
Nigel Reading is an architect, complexity geometer, sustainability advocate and Design Director of ASYNSIS Architecture + Design, Shanghai.
Nigel is the designer (with ARUP), of the iconic observation wheel proposal, the “φ – Phi – Golden Ratio – 中－Zhong-shaped” Hong Kong Spin and co-discoverer of the Asynsis principle-Constructal law – a new geometric, thermodynamics-led sustainable design law of nature & culture: the two are linked by Leonardo Da Vinci’s Golden Ratio, otherwise known as the Divine Proportion – in a new transformative, positively disruptive, paradigm-shift in our understanding of the relationships between nature, geometry optimisation, aesthetic beauty and sustainability.
Hong Kong Spin is a symbolic representation of the Asynsis principle-Constructal design law of nature and a tribute to the “one country – two systems” principle for Hong Kong.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/02/29/theres-a-new-law-in-physics-and-it-changes-everything/http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/constructal-theory-sustainability.html
More 4 Less. A new optimal design, construction & operations paradigm.
Asynsis Principle-Constructal law Team @ ARUP Foresight & Innovation, London Fri May 3 2013 http://wp.me/p1zCSP-2V via https://twitter.com/ASYNSIS
Diversity
As a visiting Masters Supervisor of Transcultural Sustainable Space Design at Nantes L’ecole de Design – Shanghai University Fine Art & Design faculty and public speaker on the Asynsis principle Constructal law’s transformative influence on global design and development, Nigel is building transcultural bridges and helping to create a new global paradigm in cultural fusion, sustainable, vernacular-informed human-centred design.
Being Eurasian himself, Nigel is ideally suited to combine both the Western and Eastern cultures and traditions into powerfully Glocal, resonant and (trans)culturally sophisticated designs.
Testament to this success is that references are available on request from the Managing Principal – Lead Design MD for InterIKEA Wuhan and the Nantes Design School Transcultural Design Course Directors and Dean.
Skills + Sectors
Design, Delivery, Business Development, Thought-leadership and Discourse, Transcultural Design, Innovation, Environmentally Sustainable Design in: 5 and 6-Star Hotels, Hospitality, Retail, Residential, Health, Rail and Transport, Education + Civic, Religious, Commercial + Banking, Media, Leisure, Theatre, Landmark Towers, Bridges, Industrial, Landscape and Master planning.
Design Philosophy:
Form follows Flow
More for Less
Synergising Simplexity
Realising ideas by synthesising the pragmatic with the poetic
ASYNSIS Architecture + Design
Ideas Realised
Selected Career Record Projects
During his career Nigel has designed and managed the following high profile projects in Europe, India, Australia and China:
- Chelsea and Westminster Hospital: 700 bed teaching and research hospital, London
- NM Rothschild and sons: corporate finance/asset management hq: city of London
- Regents Park Theatre: refurbishment of New Shakespeare Company theatre in Landscaped parkland of Regents Park Inner Circle: London
- Holmes Place Heath Club: refurbishment of Art Deco cinema into exclusive health and fitness club: London
- BBC White City development: new broadcast centre + masterplan for wood lane media village, London (BREEAM-Excellent)
- Maitreya Buddha project: Bodh Gaya, India – scheme + detail design stage 50 storey, 155m bronze statue and stone throne building (BREEAM – Excellent)
- East London Line, London Overground: Architectural Vision and Scheme design, London
- Sydney Narellan Library : municipal library in south-west Sydney, Australia
- Westfield Chermside shopping centre: new extension to first shopping centre Brisbane, Australia
- W-Square, Hennessey road Wanchai, Hong Kong, refurbishment of spectacular colour-morphing 30 storey office/hospitality tower ($HK30m – total GFA:50 000msq, with Architectonica)
- Kerry Parkside Centre, Pudong Shanghai – Shangri–La Hotel: Lead Consultant for newbuild mixed use Hotel, Apartment, Office and Retail centre by the Shanghai New Exhibition Centre ($HK235m – total GFA: 250 000msq, with KPF) LEED Gold Certified – Hotel: New Construction and Office: Core & Shell www.kerryparkside.com
- Wuxi Times Square – Marco Polo Hotel: Lead Consultant for new build mixed use Hotel, Apartment, Office and Retail centre, ($HK280m – total GFA: 270 000msq, Super Highrise with SOM)
- Hong Kong Spin – Landmark Observation Tower Concept Designer for the end of the Kai Tak runway, Hong Kong (JV partnership with Arup + Aedas) Target: LEED Platinum www.asynsis.com
- Tianjin Binhai East – Marina Retail Mall Resort Hotel – Project Director: Tianjin Binhai Port Authority, ($HK200m– total GFA: 125 000msq)
- City of Dreams – Grand Hyatt Macau: Lead Design Manager: Design and Coordination of new build mixed use Hotel, Casino, Entertainment and Retail centre on the Cotai strip, Macau (CoD: $US 2.1b – GHM total GFA: 120 000msq, with ARQ, HBA, Super Potato) www.cityofdreamsmacau.com
- Shanghai Qingpu – Jinbo Construction Group Corporate HQ + Industrial Park: Lead Concept Designer – Design Development and Coordination of Green Field Industrial Park in Qingpu, Shanghai, China. Themed on the manufacturing processes, tools and materials employed with references to the Shanghai Art Deco vernacular. Facilities: Office/R+D, Curtain Wall, LED, Photovoltaic Processing and Assembly, Stone processing, Senior/Junior dorms/VIP suites and hospitality amenities, Clinic, Retail, Gymnasium, Multi- purpose Hall. Managing in-house delivery team, sub-consultants (Budget: 120m Rmb – GFA: 80 000msq)
- Shanghai Gaudong – Guadong Deep Water Port Business Hotel – Jinbo Design +
- Construct Group Alliance partners: Lead Concept Design Architect – Concept Design, Design Development of 4-star Business Hotel, Meeting, Conference and Serviced Offices facility in Gaudong, Shanghai, China. Developed from two initial concepts: Modernist Art Deco or Containers + Factory Gates. Facilities: 150 guestrooms, 20 cellular offices/4 floors of open-plan office floor, meeting room suites, fine-dining restaurant, lobby opening to water garden, multi-purpose hall. Supervising delivery team, sub-consultants and contractor under concept design consultant contract.
(On site May 2011. Budget: 250m Rmb – GFA: 25 000msq)
- SPORTCITY Shanghai Grand Gateway Designer Sports Fashion Concept Store –
- Hong Kong client – Goldkate Holdings: Lead Concept Design Architect – Concept Design,
Design Development of flagship SPAUTE designer sports fashion store.
Grand Gateway, Xujiahui, Shanghai.($HK0.5m – total GFA: 500msq
- Shanghai Xijiao State Guest Hotel environs, Hongqiao – VIP Corporate Guest Villa for
- Jinbo Design + Construct Group: Lead Concept Design Architect – Concept Design, Design Development of exclusive corporate hospitality villa in the environs of Xijiao State Hotel, preferred residence of numerous heads of state such as US President Barack Obama, Queen Elisabeth II, Emperor Akihito, Chairmans Mao and Deng. Developed from fusion of two initial concepts: Modernist Asian minimalism (referencing Scarpa) and Mannerist Renaissance Architecture. Facilities: 3 guestrooms, 4 bathrooms, study, walk-in robe, dining + ensuite, kitchen, salon, atrium, fountain, wine cellar, games room; over 4 floors with extensive use of alabaster, onyx, granite, quartz, exotic marbles and delicate stone-inlay/mosaic flooring. Supervising delivery team, sub-consultants and contractor under concept design consultant contract right through to completion on site in April, 2011.
(Opening May 2011. Budget: 2.5m Rmb – GFA: 1200msq)
- Wanzhou City Lakeside Masterplan – Sichuan, 2011
- Phoenix Island Leisure City Masterplan – Shandong, 2011
- Emperors Palace Residential Gardens – Hebei, 2011
- Qingdao Jiaozhou Riverside VIP Corporate – Hospitality Pavilions , 2011
- Shanghai Disneyland – Hotels H1 – Cinderella & H2 – Woody & Buzz, 2012
- Wuhan InterIKEA – Integrated IKEA Flagship Store, Hypermarket and Shopping Mall themed on the lakes and landscapes of Wuhan, 2012
- Nantong River Walk – Mixed Use Retail Commercial Centre
- Parkway Private General Hospital – Pudong, Shanghai
- Tianjin Eco City Phase 2 – Seasons City Mixed Use Commercial Retail Centre (Lead Transcultural Sustainable Design Concept Architect)
Further Folio and Press Release Information on Slideshare:
Please also find a link to the new ASYNSIS Architecture + Design Capability Folder on Slideshare which includes our Press Release on the UKTI backing two ASYNSIS China projects as “high value – big ticket” designs promoting British design excellence abroad (please also find the recent VIP Villa Press Release & photos from the environs of the Xijiao State Guest Hotel, Hongqiao Shanghai, Asynsis-Constructal Law seminar and ASYNSIS-Asia recent Asia-Pac projects folio for your further information):
http://www.slideshare.net/asynsis/asynsis-constructal-press-release251113-28672400#!
http://www.slideshare.net/asynsis
Additionally, it includes the announcement of the new transformative, positively disruptive, paradigm-shifting Asynsis principle-Constructal sustainable design law of nature and culture which Nigel Reading RIBA, Design Director-Principal of ASYNSIS co-discovered – in collaboration since 2012 with Professors Adrian Bejan & Sylvie Lorente of Duke University, NC, USA. http://www.amazon.com/Design-Nature-Constructal-Organization ebook/dp/B004YWKKC8
These two developments ensure that Nigel now adds unprecedented, uniquely historic, extraordinary extra value (plus crucially in this era, conferring market-leading competitive advantage), to both client brands and also to their new projects.
This is by virtue of their having the opportunity to be associated with the proponents of a new global paradigm-shift and tipping point, a sustainable design law of nature and culture informed by canonical aesthetic beauty codes and linked to Asian
philosophy that has universal applications for optimising global design, operations and development in the built environment and beyond.
The economic, societal and environmental benefit? To ensure our civilization persists viably, efficiently and recognizably within a healthy, thriving biosphere with a vibrant, diverse but equitable society enjoying sustainable economic growth for the benefit of all our future generations.
Nigel’s uniquely transformative position allows him to lead and persuade our stakeholders that this objective is not at all incompatible with excellent glocal, transcultural sustainable design, free enterprise and adding value to projects and brands. In fact on the contrary, it is a pre-requisite for an optimal return for the “people, profit, planet” equation. It’s an exemplar for fully integrated design and development and the triple bottom line of economic, environmental and social responsibility benefit – so as to ensure a win-win-win for all stakeholders and for the planetary environment on which we all completely depend.
Nigel Anthony Reading ARB-UK RIBA-LEED GA
BA Dip Arch CPPA (UCL)
Design Director
ASYNSIS Architecture + Design
Form follows Flow
http://about.me/asynsis | asynsis.com | asynsis@me.com
+852 9370 1841 | +86 159 0040 4248 | +86 132 9610 9218
Asynsis-Constructal: Synergising Simplexity with More for Less.
A new optimal design, construction & operations paradigm merging beauty with sustainability
Da Vinci’s (other) Code: Asynsis-Constructal published in South China Morning Post
Hong Kong, Sunday 19 January 2014 http://www.scoop.it/t/asynsis-principle-constructal-law
Form follows Flow
Nigel Anthony Reading RIBA-LEED GA
Nigel Reading RIBA
Hong Kong+Australia raised, London educated, ARB-UK-registered eurasian bilingual Senior Architect and Interior Designer with substantial Masterplanning and Landscape design expertise. Over a decade’s experience in the Asia-Pacific including 8 years in China, Hong Kong-Macau, with numerous consultant, industry and stakeholder network contacts. Design, construction and operations optimisation method pioneer and sustainable design, glocal-savvy, thought-leader. Chartered member of the RIBA, founder member of RIBA-HK chapter, UCL Built Environment Club HK+SH, member Lighthouse Club HK and USGBC LEED GA accredited.
Ideas Realised
Prior to establishing Asynsis, Nigel was Lead Design Manager on the Grand Hyatt Macau, completing the City of Dreams development, including ARC-ID design development, fitout (Grand/Junior Ballrooms, Main Entrance Lobby, Spa, Bar-Restaurants plus 800 guestrooms including Executive, Diplomatic and Presidential suites), facade, services and structure. He also was the project architect of W-Square in Wanchai, working closely with the ARQ concept-design team to good effect on a very tight budget and deadline, this led to further close coordination as the Lead DM (all FoH ID, Facade and Engineering packages), with ARQ on the Grand Hyatt Macau, CoD – for which he has strong key references from the Client Design Management Leader, Leighton SPM and HBA Lead Interior Designer.
More for Less
Sustainable design projects include: Kerry Parkside, Maitreya Buddha, Eden, BBC and Hong Kong Spin (with Arup). Nigel led the Kerry Parkside (retail mall podium, Kerry business hotel, serviced apartments (both managed by Shangri-La) and commercial office towers), project as the lead consultant executive, managing architect in charge of designing and coordinating the architectural, interiors and engineering packages, liaising with client, consultant, MTR and statutory teams from concept to full construction sign-off.
Simplicity is the ultimate Sophistication – Steve Jobs