Ong Yan Research
4201 Henry Avenue
Architecture & Design Building, Room 309
Philadelphia, PA 19144
Highlighted Publications
Grace Ong Yan, 2024, From Supergraphics to Participation in the Public Sphere, in Public Interiority: Exploring Interiors in the Public Realm, Routledge. (Book)
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Supergraphics transformed interior spaces by fragmenting and juxtaposing large-scale urban billboards and signage. This essay relates these experimental graphic interventions with public murals of the same era, theorizing public interiority through the flat media of graphics. By examining image, communication, and theories of modernity and Postmodernism, the study highlights the transformative potential of human participation in urban space.
Grace Ong Yan, 2023, Plexiglas for Sale: Engaging the Open Work, in Interiors, Design/Architecture/Culture, Vol. 12, Issue 2-3. p. 395-416.
This essay examines plexiglass as a transparent wonder material, tracing its transformation from an everyday industrial product to an elevated medium in art and design. Through the lens of Umberto Eco’s “open work,” it explores how plexiglass’ blank slate nature enables innovation in transparency, human engagement, and spatial design. By analyzing its origins as a chemical invention of Röhm and Haas, alongside historical and contemporary design examples, the essay critically engages plexiglass within the contexts of capitalism, consumer desire, and postmodern aesthetics.
Grace Ong Yan, 2012, Wrapping Aluminum at the Reynolds Metals Company: From Cold War Consumerism to the Age of Sustainability, in Design & Culture, Vol. 4, No. 3, p. 299-324.
This essay examines the postwar reinvention of aluminum by the Reynolds Metals Company, which promoted the material as essential to the American “good life” by wrapping everyday products in its sleek, modern sheen. Drawing on Roland Barthes’s theory of wrapping the empty center, it explores aluminum’s transition from innovation to disposability and environmental consequence. The essay critically reassesses aluminum’s contemporary status as a sustainable material, revealing its complex legacy of consumerism, waste, and corporate greenwashing.
Grace Ong Yan, 2021, Building Brands: Corporations and Modern Architecture, Lund Humphries. (Book)
This book explores how corporations in the 20th century used modern architecture as a strategic tool for branding, shaping both their public identities and the built environment. Through case studies of corporate headquarters, the book examines the intersection of design, business, and media, revealing how architecture functioned as a key element of corporate image-making in an era of expanding consumer culture.
Grace Ong Yan, Ruth Peltason, 2017, Architect: the Pritzker Prize Laureates in Their Own Words, Black Dog & Levanthal. (Book)
This book offers a rare glimpse into the philosophies, inspirations, and design principles of the world’s most celebrated architects. Featuring insights from Pritzker Prize winners, the book presents their reflections on architecture’s role in society, their creative processes, and the evolving nature of the built environment, providing an intimate portrait of architectural mastery.
Grace Ong Yan, 2012, Wang Shu: The Infinite Spontaneity of Tradition,” Pritzker Prize Website.
Ong Yan’s essay explores Wang Shu’s architectural philosophy, emphasizing his innovative use of salvaged materials, traditional craftsmanship, and vernacular forms. By examining his approach to cultural memory and sustainability, the essay highlights how Wang Shu’s work challenges conventional modernism and redefines contemporary architecture’s relationship with history and place.