We had the good fortune of connecting with Yaoqianying Jiang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yaoqianying, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
The work I’m currently engaged in is as a conceptual architect. While I design buildings in the traditional architecture industry, I also simultaneously create environments for the gaming and film industries in virtual worlds. Over the past few centuries, architecture, as a complex discipline that combines the zeitgeist, humanistic arts, philosophy, and technology, has catered to humanity’s evolving needs for the environment and embodied our reflections on the future and ideal worlds. The information revolution hasn’t brought about a productivity transformation in the architectural industry, but the virtual world has freed architectural design from past engineering constraints. Countless profound visions of the future world can now be presented to the public in forms accessible to everyone.

Movies, games, and VR have a huge demand for more realistic and immersive worlds. Everything built here allows for more imaginative flights, focusing more on ideas and visual impact rather than engineering technology and costs in conceptual design, allowing for more stylistic expression. What I’m doing is precisely leveraging my complex background knowledge in traditional disciplines, focusing on studying the visual language of architecture and environmental design, to create compelling assets for the virtually boundless and inclusive worlds of the future.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I consider myself not quite the typical conceptual artist or traditional architect; thus, I refer to myself as a conceptual architect. I’m aware that in the entertainment industry, many talented conceptual artists achieve remarkable success right after graduation, joining exciting projects and creating captivating world environments. By the time I completed my Bachelor’s in Industrial Design at Tsinghua University and Master’s in Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, I was significantly older than them and lacked as much experience in entertainment design. However, I am still very grateful and proud that I took a long time to complete my studies in traditional design disciplines. Learning about aesthetics, history, philosophy, and engineering has enabled me to better understand the logic behind the forms of things. After connecting all the dots, I found a clear path on how to imagine, conceptualize, and design these nonexistent things.

Moreover, my experience in the entertainment industry and training in form and visual language have also helped me tackle some challenging design tasks in the architectural industry, tasks that are not typically covered in architectural education. I am delighted to have found the intersection of these two industries and to be able to carve out my unique roles in each of them.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend were visiting Los Angeles, I would definitely take them to experience the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Designed by the renowned architect Frank Gehry, this iconic landmark is not only visually stunning but also offers a world-class cultural experience. From its shimmering metallic exterior to its exceptional acoustics inside, the Concert Hall is a testament to architectural innovation and artistic excellence. The pioneering design of the Concert Hall leaves everyone in awe, with its immense visual impact symbolizing the inclusivity and possibilities of such a diverse city as Los Angeles.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am deeply grateful to one of my past employers, with whom I collaborated on developing an incredibly realistic virtual world. Unfortunately, since the project has not been made public yet, I am unable to mention their name. They chose me, despite my lack of game development experience, because of my background in both architectural and industrial design disciplines, to join the development of a vast and lifelike virtual world project. In that team, I saw everyone approaching the task with serious reflection on the real world, contemplating the philosophy, technology, and society of our present era, and meticulously reasoning out all convincing details in designing a plausible future society. They showed me that cutting-edge ideas are not confined to academic research, unable to be implemented in engineering, but can indeed bring value in the content production industry, providing joy and enlightenment to audiences. Just as science fiction shapes our perception of technology, I am thrilled by this exploration ahead of its time.

Website: https://ariajiang.myportfolio.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaoqianying-jiang-a41476134

Other: jiangyqy@gmail.com

Image Credits
All are my personal artwork

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