US-based Chinese architectural designer seeks to bridge city, culture and future

Aiming to create places where people can live, work, and feel at home, a United States-based Chinese architectural designer is drawing international attention for her ability to bridge city, culture and future.

Born in China and trained in Shanghai and New Haven, the US, Yushan Jiang has built a career that spans independent project, urban renewal, and large-scale building commissions, weaving cultural memory and civic imagination into contemporary form.

Studying urban planning at Tongji University in Shanghai, she completed her Master of Architecture at Yale University, where she was awarded the Suzanne Sheng Memorial Scholarship. After beginning her career at MeierPartners, she joined SHoP Architects, where she quickly advanced from schematic work to leading design and technical aspects of major architectural and urban projects.

That leadership is visible at Metropolitan Park, an $8 billion redevelopment in Queens that will transform 50 acres (20.24 hectares) around Citi Field into a mixed-use hub for the community. Jiang led the facade design, drawing on the site's history as the former Shea Stadium to create a meaningful connection between past and present, and she will remain involved through the end of this year.

Coverage by Time Out, The Architect's Newspaper, and New York YIMBY highlights its visibility in the city's redevelopment landscape.

It has been learned that she will also contribute to The Brooklyn Tower, the borough's first supertall skyscraper and a 2024 CTBUH Award recipient.

Alongside professional work, Jiang has pursued an independent portfolio. Her project Divided Unity, an art center in New Haven, won the Design of the Year at the 2025 French Design Awards, placing first among more than 2,000 entries worldwide. The design combines a vertical stack of studios with public galleries, reflecting her exploration of solitude and community in creative life.

"I see architecture as a constant negotiation between ambition and experience," Jiang said. "It's about creating places where people can live, work, and feel at home."

From Shanghai to New York, Jiang has built a career connecting memory, technology, and civic life. Her work emphasizes meaningful design rather than spectacle, reflecting the histories and future potential of the built environment.

Her urban design project, Splice City, has received the Award for Excellence in Digital/Hybrid Media at the 2024 Ken Roberts Memorial Delineation Competition, hosted by AIA Dallas.

In addition to practice, Jiang has contributed to academic discourse, serving as Guest Critic and Teaching Fellow at Yale School of Architecture, the New York Institute of Technology, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. Her joint exhibition, A Limen: In Between and Beyond, co-curated with Shuang Chen, was covered by Amazing Architecture, extending her work into the cultural sphere.