Wang Chiu-Hwa

Wang was born in Beiping on 8 August 1925.[4][5] Her father was Wang Shijie, a scholar and politician who moved to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War, her mother, Xiao Dehua, was a painter, and the musician Xiao Youmei was her maternal uncle.[2][6] After earning her bachelor's degree in architecture at the National Central University in Chongqing, China, which was China’s first university programme for architecture.[3] Wang Chiu-Hwa moved to Seattle to continue her studies at the University of Washington in 1946.[7] She then studied at Columbia University in New York City and obtained her Master's degree in architecture in 1949.[8] She was one of the first Asian women to study architecture at University of Washington and the Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.[9] Wang earned her architecture licence in 1960.[3]

From 1953 to 1979, Wang worked with American architect Percival Goodman in New York City.[10][11] She began working for him part-time as a designer while being his student, and then worked for him full-time for almost thirty years, starting as an associate in 1960 and then becoming a partner.[10] Wang's first project with Goodman was designing the Fairmount Temple in Beachwood Village, Ohio (1953). [3] Goodman exerted great influence on her architectural ideas; like Goodman, she strongly believed in the notion of the architect as having a social responsibility through their work.[12] She is quoted as saying “as a designer, you must concern yourself first and foremost with the well-being of the majority, not just the interests of a few wealthy people.”[8]

One of Wang's nicknames was the "architect in a qipao" due to the fact she often wore one to construction sites.[3] Wang spoke out against the practice of prioritising private cars over public transport. One such example is when Wang and Goodman, in collaboration with their students at Columbia University, designed an unsolicited proposal for Manhattanville-on-Hudson that was intended to counter urban planner Robert Moses’ proposal to focus on building highways in mid-twentieth century New York.[3]

Wang Chiu-Hwa returned to Taiwan in 1979.[12] She began teaching at the Taipei Institute of Technology and Tamkang University, and served as architectural consultant to a number of public institutions.[10] In 1983, after collaborating with architect Joshua J. Pan on the Chung Yuan Christian University library, she started her own practice and has since been working in joint venture with J. J. Pan and Partners, Architects and Planners, on a number of projects.[10] Wang was named Outstanding Architect of Taiwan ROC in 2003.[10] She won the 2020 National Award for the Arts in architecture, and was the first woman recipient of the prize since an award for architecture was established in 1997.[4]

Wang Chiu-Hwa died of heart failure at Taipei City Renai Hospital at around 2 p.m. on 14 June 2021, less than two months before her 96th birthday.[2]