Alvin Huang Designs Function-Based Structures
By James Moreau | 22 Jul, 2025

Alvin Huang founded Synthesis Design + Architecture to create structures that optimize performance.

Alvin Huang’s design philosophy of “form follows performance” has built a transpacific practice for Synthesis Design + Architecture, the design firm he founded in London in 2010 and moved to Los Angeles the following year.  SDA’s portfolio includes work in architecture, commemorative sculpture, and bespoke furniture. 

Just two years after moving to LA Huang completed his biggest project to date, the 120,000 square-foot The Groove extension to Bangkok’s CentralWorld, the world’s third largest shopping mall.  The Groove’s open-air courtyard design employs sinuous, continuously flowing lines to replicate the energy of the bustling city’s alleys.

Also in 2013 SDA was named winner of Volvo’s 2013 pavilion design competition for creating “Pure Tension”, a portable, solar-powered charging station membrane structure to symbolize the Volvo’s quest for energy efficiency in its cars.  It was named one of Time Magazine’s 25 Best Inventions of the Year.

In 2019 SDA showcased its interior design capabilities with a functional yet playful concept for the interior of YPMD Pediatric Neurology Clinic in Ladera Ranch, California.

SDA has also provided design concepts for China’s Xiamen Dream City and South Korea’s Daegu Gosan Public Library.

Before establishing SDA Huang worked with Amanda Levete Architects, Future Systems, Zaha Hadid Architects, and AECOM.

Huang has worked with his alma mater USC starting in 2011 as an assistant professor.  Today he serves as USC’s Director of Graduate & Post-Professional Architecture, a title held since 2020, as well as being an associate professor. Huang graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from USC in 1998 and received a Master of Architecture from London’s Architectural Association School of Architecture in 2004.  His parents emigrated from Taiwan.  Huang is married with two children.