Bing Hu – One of Arizona’s Finest Architects

May 22, 2010

I recently saw a magazine spread featuring one of our client’s homes. It is always a thrill when we see some of great contemporary furniture and lighting from Thingz in a magazine! It is especially thrilling when the house is as beautiful as this one. We will likely feature a spread of this home once we secure some photos from the owner but until then I thought that instead we would discuss the projects brilliant architect Bing Hu.

Bing Hu, one of Arizona’s most sought after architects, is living the American dream. In 1988, Hu arrived in the United States armed with nothing but $50 in his pocket and a scholarship to attend Taliesin West, the prestigious Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. After more than two decades, Bing Hu now finds himself as one of the most influential figures in Arizona architecture and beyond. We have a particular attachment to Bing Hu’s work since he does some much contemporary and modern design that we at Thingz find so interesting and compelling.

The Beijing-born Hu is successfully following in the very footsteps of Frank Lloyd Wright and is championing what he learned from Taliesin about the concept of organic architecture. He recalls his days in the program when he had to build his own living facility. Those three months spent on constructing this shelter further fortified Hu’s belief in Wright’s philosophy of learning by doing. Another thing that Bing Hu took with him after finishing graduate studies at Taliesin is the goal to come up with timeless creations, shunning fashion architecture in the process. He aims to produce architecture with sites, homes and materials that work in harmony with the landscape. His mentors in Taliesin are definitely impressed by the sculptural qualities of the contemporary homes Hu has designed. As brilliant an architect as Hu is, he certainly knows how to show gratitude and give back. He is currently one of Taliesin’s leading supporters and is actively involved in the school’s internship program. He humbly attributes his professional success to his education at Taliesin.

Bing Hu is all about quality. He believes in challenging himself and putting his heart and soul into a project. He makes sure to address all the client’s needs and desires while upholding his own site design and philosophy. These excellent standards are reflected in the reputation of his award-winning architectural company, H&S International, the leading residential architecture firm in the Southwest. The company is known for creating residential resorts. Located at the Scottsdale Airpark, H&S International offers everything from design-building spec homes and master-planning to commercial and hospitality design services. Some of the firm’s high profile projects include the Sterling Collection in the Silverleaf community at the DC Ranch in Scottsdale, the Apache Outlaw and Chiricahua clubhouses at Desert Mountain, and the Kiva and Blackstone clubhouses in Peoria. Bing Hu’s custom estate homes usually go for $5 million or higher. Word on Hu’s design brilliance has also gone beyond the Southwest and reached far and wide. His firm has designed estates in Hawaii and even in other countries such as the Bahamas, Korea and China. In his land of birth, for instance, one of his development projects consists of a suburban, middle-class neighborhood in his very hometown. It features 4,000-square-foot contemporary buildings, reminiscent of Wright’s prairie-style homes.

For Hu, it’s not all about creating fabulous homes, he also gets his rewards from the relationships he develops in the course of his career. With his amazing talent, as well as his superb work and personal ethics, there is no wonder Bing Hu has reached impressive heights in his career and continues to climb higher.