Yongliang Chen

Hi, I am Liang, and I am in my final year of architecture at Swinburne. I enjoy designing public spaces that bring people together and create meaningful experiences. Throughout my time at university, I have learned how to explore ideas, visualise concepts, and develop designs thoughtfully. As I look ahead, I am excited to continue learning, push creative boundaries, and contribute to projects that inspire and engage communities.

Architecture Design Studio 5 - iHub

Project produced in collaboration with Hanyang Cao

The project is located in Newport and aims to revitalise the area, transforming it from a traditional industrial district into a hub for new technology. The design uses a DNA spiral for form-finding, connecting key functions such as a museum and convention centre, while promoting flexibility and interaction.

Architecture Design Studio 5 - iHub

Architecture Design Studio 4 - Tidal Cycle

Project produced in collaboration with Yuan Xu

The project is located in North Wharf and creates a hybrid residential–public space that strengthens connections between people, water, and sunlight. Shading, greenery, water features, clear pathways, and bridges enhance comfort, movement, environmental quality, and social interaction across the site.

Architecture Design Studio 4 - Tidal Cycle

Architecture Design Studio 2 - Olive House

Project produced in collaboration with Bushra Asfoor

Olive House is a family residence located in Portugal that draws upon the traditional Catalan vault construction system as its core spatial and structural strategy. The design explores how a series of walls intersect and cut through the cisterns, shaping the internal layout and defining key moments of spatial transition throughout the home.

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.