Hospice - Home for the Terminally ill #5 competition 1st Prize winner - Yilin Zhang and Yixuan Liu

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the 2nd Prize winners of our Hospice - Home for the Terminally ill #5 competition – Yilin Zhang and Yixuan Liu from United States!

Yilin Zhang and Yixuan Liu

Please tell us about your company (when it was founded, where it is based, how many employees, etc) Alternatively, if you do not have a company, please give us some insights on your own professional/academia background.

YET Office is an architecture and research studio founded by Yilin Zhang and Yixuan Liu. The studio investigates how architecture can respond to complex social conditions and human experiences that are often overlooked within conventional development. Yixuan Liu and Yilin Zhang are San Francisco based architects and researchers whose work focuses on the relationship between architecture, human dignity, and the cultural perception of the society. Our research examines how spatial environments influence emotional experience, ethical relationships, and the way societies understand different stages of life. We approach architecture through systems thinking and design methodology, with a particular interest in how architectural strategies can address broader social and environmental challenges. Together we established YET Office as a platform for inquiry-driven design. The studio approaches architecture not only as a professional service that produces buildings, but also as a cultural practice that investigates how people live, care for one another, and coexist within shared environments. Our work often sits at the intersection of architecture, social research, and humanistic inquiry. Rather than focusing on a single building type or market sector, YET Office is interested in questions that are often marginalized within mainstream development: aging populations, cultural memory, displacement, and the spatial conditions of care. Through design research, speculative projects, and architectural proposals, the studio explores how the built environment can support dignity, belonging, and meaningful human connection.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been Involved?

 The work developed by YET Office spans a wide range of scales and contexts, from intimate architectural spaces to broader urban and territorial questions. Instead of defining our practice through a specific typology, the studio organizes its work around social themes and human conditions that require spatial investigation. Within Reach is a representative example of this approach. The project reimagines hospice care within dense urban environments by proposing a distributed system of small hospice units embedded within the everyday fabric of the city. Rather than isolating end-of-life care in distant medical facilities, the proposal suggests that spaces of care should remain close to the communities where people live, allowing individuals to remain connected to family, neighborhood, and daily life during their final stage. Other projects explore different dimensions of social and human experience. Not a Place investigates temporary inhabitation and the ambiguous spatial conditions created by migration and mobility. Almost Forgotten reflects on the gradual disappearance of cultural memory and the overlooked fragments of urban history. Other research project examines spatial strategies for refugee settlements, focusing on how architecture can help provide stability, dignity, and a sense of belonging in situations of displacement. Across these projects, the format and scale may vary, but the underlying intention remains consistent. The studio’s work asks how architecture can move beyond purely functional problem-solving and instead contribute to a deeper understanding of social realities and human life.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

For us, architecture is fundamentally about shaping the environments in which human life unfolds. Buildings influence far more than physical comfort or efficiency. They affect how people experience relationships, privacy, care, vulnerability, and memory. In this sense, architecture participates in shaping the emotional and cultural structure of everyday life. At the same time, many important human experiences have gradually been pushed out of visible public space. Aging, illness, grief, and displacement are often treated as conditions that should be hidden within specialized institutions or distant infrastructures. This separation can make society less aware of the realities that many people face. We believe architects can play an important role in addressing this condition. By recognizing spatial questions embedded within social issues, architects can propose environments that acknowledge these experiences rather than conceal them. Design can create spaces where care, dignity, and human presence are supported rather than marginalized. The role of the architect, therefore, extends beyond aesthetics or technical performance. Architects can act as interpreters of social change, identifying emerging needs and translating them into meaningful spatial strategies. Through this work, architecture becomes a way of contributing to how society understands and supports human life across its full spectrum.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

Many of the topics we explore require research and experimentation before they can become real projects. Ideas that question existing systems, such as new models for hospice care or alternative approaches to displacement, often need a space where they can be tested and articulated. Architecture competitions provide that space. They allow designers to develop speculative proposals, translate research into spatial form, and present alternative possibilities for how architecture might respond to emerging social challenges. For our studio, competitions function as a form of design laboratory. They create the conditions where conceptual thinking can evolve into architectural strategies and where complex ideas can be communicated through design.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

Architecture competitions should not be understood only as opportunities to win recognition. When approached thoughtfully, they can become an important platform for advancing ideas within the discipline. In professional practice, many projects are shaped by immediate constraints such as budget, schedule, and development priorities. While these conditions are necessary, they can limit the space for deeper investigation. Competitions offer a different environment, one where architects can question existing models, test new spatial strategies, and engage with emerging social issues through design. For designers who are uncertain about participating, we often suggest reframing competitions as a form of research and intellectual exploration. They allow architects to develop independent positions within the field and contribute to broader conversations about the future of the built environment. Competitions also create opportunities for peer learning. When architects share experimental ideas through competition proposals, they expand the collective imagination of the discipline. Even projects that remain unbuilt can influence how others think about architecture and its social role. For this reason, competitions can be particularly valuable for architects who want to explore ideas that may not yet have a place in conventional projects. By treating competitions as a laboratory for research and critical thinking, designers can help move the discipline forward while developing their own voice and leadership within the field.