Hsin Yieh was formed in Shanghai in 1933. During the years in China, principal works were undertaken in major cities such as Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and Chongqing. These work included major government and cultural projects such as national museums, universities, banks, and office buildings. The firm also did the China Building in Chicago’s World Fair.
In 1948, Hsin Yieh moved to Hong Kong. The firm completed numerous industrial projects, mainly for clientele established in its earlier years in China and had opportunities to participate in some of the first highrise residential and commercial developments to be built in Hong Kong.
In the 60’s, as Hong Kong’s prosperity grew, the variety and volume of projects handled by the firm increased. These included a large number of institutional buildings for the Hong Kong Government such as hospitals, schools and hostels. Other work completed during this period encompassed numerous residential, office and industrial projects together with cinemas and hotel buildings. The office maintained a balance practice in terms of size and nature of projects. While drawing from the resources of past experience, new ideas and methods were injected into the organization along with a policy aimed at furthering the practice in order to cater for changing times and demands in the architectural professional services.
The 70’s saw the expansion of Hsin Yieh’s clientele to include public companies and international corporations. The firm has undertaken substantial projects both for the public and private sectors. Among recent projects completed or undertaken are major comprehensive housing developments, large scale shopping and commercial complexes, and industrial estates, together with a mixture of smaller scale recreational facilities whilst ensuring equal dedication on projects of smaller size and nature. The firm became a limited company in 1984.
Hsin Yieh, in the mid 80’s was engaged in large scale urban planning and housing estates design. Together with quantity and scale of the projects, quality and lifestyle through planning and design were part of the clientele requirement. The scale of projects Hsin Yieh designed reached 800,000m2 of gross floor area and a residential population of more than 30,000 people in a single development and 150,000m2 of gross floor area for office and commercial buildings.
Following Mainland China’s economic reform, Hsin Yieh participated in various project design in major metropolis such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, serving mainly both overseas developers. As the pace of the reform accelerated, the services extended into interior cities such as Chengdu and Xian. The clientele for China projects were both oversea developers and Chinese entrepreneurs. The experience gained from the encounter with these new challenges presented by the China projects were invaluable.
Since Hong Kong became China’s Special Administration Region (SAR) in 1997, the firm was engaged by the SAR government in participating in its massive public housing scheme. This was an experience in enriching the firm’s professional experience in the realm of dealing with affordable housing issues during planning and execution of mega scale residential projects.
The firm constantly endeavors to reach for high standards of professionalism to keep abreast of rapidly changing building technology and consumer’s demand, and is equipped with advanced information technology facilities to tooled all phases of its professional work. In March 1996, the firm obtained ISO 9001 Certification to cater for public and special projects.
The office is structured to provide a high standard of professional attention for all stages of a project undertaken, from schematic designs to construction contract administration. Each project is placed under the charge of a project director and a project architect, who co-ordinate and direct the technical teams of various disciplines.
The full range of urban planning, architectural designs, interior and graphic design services are provided by the firm. It is the firm’s policy to engage outside technical consultants best suited for the project requirement and the meet with project needs.