WHO WE ARE

HplusF was established by architects Craig Hodgetts and HsinMing Fung in 1984. Best known for their groundbreaking 1992 library at UCLA and the reborn Hollywood Bowl, the studio has been responsible for the design of numerous landmark structures, including the UCLA Gateway, the Egyptian Theater, and signature pavilions at Art Center College and California Institute of the Arts. With complimentary backgrounds in urban design, theater, and industrial design, the partners have a singular ability to reach beyond disciplines to create innovative, memorable design solutions for challenging projects. Their approach to this work is multifaceted, embracing narrative experience, novel technology, kinetics, and architectural theory in a disciplined search for a bold, uncompromising structure.

CULTURE AND ARCHITECTURE

This method has been instrumental in achieving a fusion of architecture and contemporary culture which advances the objectives of our clients as well as their community. South Side Settlement, a community center in an economically depressed neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, remains the home of a vital community force twenty five years after its completion, and their nimble design for the Blueprints for Modern Living exhibition at MOCA is recognized as the benchmark for the explosion of mid-century modernism. MAPAC, a performing arts center in Menlo Park, California continues this tradition by melding the cultural objectives of three institutions into a single, multipurpose regional showcase.

EXPERIMENTATION

The partners have embraced commissions for exhibitions and temporary buildings as a means to advance experimental applications, as well as to conduct the applied research which often influences their design for more traditional structures. Many of their completed projects, such as the Towell Library at UCLA, or the World of Charles and Ray Eames exhibition at the Library of Congress, Vitra Museum and 29 international museums, have introduced ways of thinking which continue to resonate in spite of their temporary nature, while others, such as Sun Power, an interactive exhibit at German power company ZKT, and our designs for the Ecology Wing at the California ScienCenter are energized by the aggressive integration of 21st Century technology.

OUR STRUCTURE

HplusF operates as a studio culture, with an emphasis on communication, collaboration, and experimentation. Project alternatives are studied in both physical and digital media, and presented to our clients for comment and analysis. Evolution of design proceeds as an iterative, consensus-building activity focusing on well-defined project priorities. Both partners collaborate throughout each project, directing a dedicated, hands-on team whose members are engaged from beginning to end. This process, combined with a compact organization and flexible creative roles, provides a predictable structure for the execution as well as the creation of complex projects.

ADVANCED MEDIA

With creative ties to leading edge media producers, Hodgetts+Fung has the ability to realize as well as conceptualize the integration of architecture and advanced media applications. Our familiarity begins with a thorough understanding of the nuances of the human/technology interface, and continues through the optical and digital means necessary to create comfortable, accessible designs which fully exploit the human potential. By partnering with firms such as Applied Minds to create state-of-the-art digital command centers for NASA and the DOD, and with Disney to produce family-friendly interactive experiences, HplusF has worked directly with technology team members, thus acquiring first-hand experience in the development of unique, out-of-the-box architectural applications.

EXHIBITIONS

Much of our work is in collaboration with curators and museum operating personnel in the creation of concepts and plans for exhibitions. We believe this work has given us a unique insight into the nature of exhibition space, not as an architectural tour-de-force, but as a highly tuned instrument which enables curators to better communicate their ideas to the public. The resulting dialogue between the rightly expressive public image of a museum and the more purposeful galleries within provides exciting opportunities for architecture.

ATTRIBUTES

Both HsinMing Fung and Craig Hodgetts hold prominent teaching assignments, she as director of graduate studies at Sci-Arc, and he as a tenured professor at UCLA, and balance that passion with a practice which has contributed significantly to the intellectual and architectural heritage of Los Angeles.

Throughout their careers, HsinMing Fung and Craig Hodgetts have advocated a balanced approach to architecture, which champions the role of design while remaining firmly committed to sustainable, functional and humanist principles.

SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS

• HplusF was named "Firm of the Year" in 2008 by the California Council of the American Institute of Architects.
• Ming Fung and Craig Hodgetts received the Gold Medal from the Los Angeles AIA in 2007.
• In 1996 HplusF received the national Chrysler Design Award.
• Both partners are active National Peers for the General Services Administration Design Excellence Program.
• Ming Fung served on the National Arts Council under President William Clinton.
• The firm was named to the National Council on Arts and Letters in 1994.