Hanyang Cao

Email Address

Hello everyone, my name is Hanyang Cao. Bachelor of Architecture graduate in 2025. I believe that architecture should carry profound meaning and have a lasting impact on humanity. Exceptional architecture is not only about creating engaging spatial experiences—it can also inspire transformation and innovation within a community.

For my final semester project, I–hub, a high-tech industrial park themed around technology and education, the vision was to harness innovation to attract investment and stimulate local industrial renewal, ultimately contributing to regional economic growth. I chose DNA as the central design concept, representing growth, connection, and the continuity of knowledge. The building’s form and circulation were inspired by the spiral structure of DNA, allowing visitors to experience the idea that learning is a journey of exploration and evolution.

Throughout the design process, I combined creative ideas with technical skills, using Rhino, Grasshopper, and Twinmotion to model, test, and visualize the space. This approach helped me develop a design that is innovative, practical, and meaningful, reflecting my belief that architecture can promote progress, connect people, and enrich human experiences.

i_hub

"i Hub: A visionary hub of innovation, where dynamic lattice structures merge form and function, creating an iconic, light-filled space that inspires collaboration and creativity.

DNA

“Designing the building’s form inspired by the twisted structure of DNA

Street Concept

The building is very long, resembling a street. Visitors enter through the museum entrance on the left and move through a sequence of spaces showcasing history, art, and technology. By the end of the journey, they leave with a rich and memorable emotional experience.

Long section

Engaging interior spaces

The building has different spaces like galleries, a museum, a convention centre, and classrooms. People can learn, have fun, and meet employees from high-tech companies. They can try out new tech products and play with robots. The building works as a sustainable, self-contained system.

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.