New generation summons wind of change from West

Over the last decade, some of China's most intriguing design projects have been created by two architects who are business partners - and husband and wife. Philippines-born Lyndon Neri and Taiwan-born Rossana Hu met as students and in 2002 moved to Shanghai, where the Harvard-educated Neri worked with US architect Michael Graves to transform a post-Renaissance landmark into Three on the Bund, an award-winning modern lifestyle centre.

Although Rossana had just given birth to their third child and says she expected Shanghai to be a temporary sojourn, the couple realised that they had happened upon an unprecedented time in China's emerging contemporary design world and decided to stay.

Struck by the paucity of contemporary international design, the couple blazed their own creative trail, launching Design Republic, featuring modern furniture and objects such as Dutch design company Droog's quirky lamps, Alessi's classic kitchen products and BD Barcelona Design's sculptural furniture.

The showroom also featured the duo's own designs, reflecting their trademark understated aesthetic blending Chinese crafts and Western functionality. Products include their Zisha tea set handmade by traditional craftsmen using rare purple clay, and woven bamboo Emperor lamp designed for Moooi.

By 2004 the duo had also established Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, producing highly functional but innovative work for a diverse range of high-end projects from master planning, architecture and interiors to branding and graphics.

They transformed Waterhouse on South Bund, which was originally a three-storey Japanese army headquarters building dating to the 1930s, with new additions made using Cor-Ten steel to reflect the working dock's industrial past. They transformed it into a modern 19-room boutique hotel that drew international attention. The understated interiors contrast old and new with a blend of smooth concrete, rusted iron and exposed brickwork, with minimalist furniture from classic Danish designers Arne Jacobsen and Hans Wegner adding texture and depth. The notion of private and public space was turned on its head with unexpected visual connections and dynamic interactions between guest rooms and public areas, winning the duo the prestigious Architectural Review Award for emerging architecture in 2010.

The couple also collaborated with Japanese master architect Kengo Kuma on Swire Group's The Opposite House hotel in Beijing's Chaoyang district (and at Swire's EAST, Beijing, which opened last year). Here their modern interpretation of traditional Chinese themes revealed rooms with sleek, minimalist furnishings, brushed oak hardwood floors and square wooden bathroom fittings. Meanwhile in the hotel's modern restaurant Bei, Neri&Hu created a whimsical, forest-inspired experience dominated by a constellation of bulbs dangling from the ceiling, with chefs performing in front of a mirror behind the bar.