Adaptive, Attuned and Unafraid: How WAG Architects Are Rethinking What a Studio Can Be
For young architecture firms, carving out a niche in the industry is often the easiest way to get noticed. Yet, WAG Architects — whose collaborative studio is spread across New York, Beijing and Haikou — has chosen a different path. With an almost radical openness to possibility, the firm resists being boxed in by typology, scale or geography. Their approach is refreshingly unorthodox: they embrace experimentation and variety while rejecting premature labels, letting each commission become its own design laboratory.
This philosophy is grounded in pragmatism. “An architect is a helper,” says founding partner Danwei Wang. “We’ve come to realize that being a service provider is more important than being an artist.” This ethos has yielded work that’s understated yet deeply intentional; theirs is an architecture that is cost-conscious, materially efficient and visually varied. The studio’s portfolio ranges from adaptive reuse in Hunan to site-specific installations like Dancing Stone Forest, an A+Award-winning project conceived and built in just two days.
Across continents, the team operates with a flat hierarchy and an insistence that every designer, from intern to principal, has a voice. This openness extends to their process, which begins with deep research into local rhythms of life before any formal moves are made. In the following interview, Architizer sat down with WAG Architects’ founder, Danwei Wang, to learn more about the firm’s unique working model and to dive deeper into the stories behind some of their built output.
The Voyage Chapel by WAG Architects, Hainan, China
Hannah Feniak: Your portfolio has great range in terms of typology and scale. How would you define your firm’s architectural approach and design philosophy? What types of commissions are you generally drawn to?
Danwei Wang: In our practice we’ve deliberately explored a wide range of project types and scales. As young architects, especially at the beginning of our independent practice, we see this diversity as an essential part of our exploration process. We don’t want any of our potential to be limited too early. Instead, we believe in boldly experimenting with different possibilities.
In our view, young architects shouldn’t be prematurely defined — by saying, for example, “I only do residential” or “I only take on commercial work.” This early phase of experimentation is crucial for discovering what truly matters to us as designers.
The Voyage Chapel by WAG Architects, Hainan, China
Over the past few years, we’ve come to realize that being a service provider is more important than being an artist. An architect is a helper — someone who solves problems for clients, not someone who creates artworks. In commercial projects, for instance, we always prioritize the client’s business goals and strive to create designs that support those objectives, rather than forcing our own design signature at their expense.
From this, our design philosophy has gradually taken shape: to use restrained, minimal interventions to create rich, meaningful spatial experiences.
We believe in doing more with less — not only to help our clients create projects that are truly theirs, but also to reduce unnecessary material use and carbon emissions. This approach allows our work to be both cost-effective and environmentally responsible.
At the same time, we care deeply about the social impact of our work. For example, in our project Dancing Stone Forest, which recently won an Architizer A+ Award, we demonstrated many of these principles. The project is simple in form and extremely low-budget, yet it embodies a rich set of values: it helped the client realize their vision through a restrained and efficient design, and we hope it also inspires visitors to reflect on nature, environmental protection and sustainable living.
The Landscape Box by WAG Architects, Nanjing, China
HF: Tell us more about your studio culture, which spans continents and cities. How many designers are working in your orbit? Do your NYC teams collaborate with those in Haikou and Beijing?
DW: Although we have offices in New York, Beijing and Haikou, we intentionally keep our team small — under ten people. We believe a compact team allows for more open, collaborative and creative ways of working. We’re not trying to build a corporate machine where everyone is locked into narrow roles. Instead, we want every designer on the team to resonate with each stage of the project.
Our studio operates with a flat hierarchy, especially during the early design phases. Even interns are encouraged to speak up, because we believe that inspiration can come from diverse life experiences—not just years of professional training. We deeply value every voice in the room.
In terms of collaboration, our work is borderless. Designers in three cities across two continents often co-create on the same projects, sharing ideas, models and feedback in real time. It’s a distributed, yet tightly connected way of working that reflects how we see architecture: not bound by geography, but shaped by shared thinking.
Street Mirrors – Nanjing Historical Building Renovation by WAG Architects, Nanjing, China
HF: This year’s A+Awards celebrated the productive tension between the profession’s global reach and the increasing attention paid to local context. Your projects are often site specific; how do you navigate the global nature of your firm while incorporating a local, context-based approach to design?
DW: Site-specificity has always been one of the most important considerations in our design process. Interestingly, we find that the international makeup of our team actually enhances our sensitivity to local context rather than diluting it. Working across different cultures and geographies makes us more attuned to cultural nuances and more conscious of the value of place-based thinking.
For every project, we begin with a deep exploration of the local context — its history, cultural background, social atmosphere, customs and even the rhythms of daily life. These elements form the foundation of our design approach. Rather than applying a predetermined style or aesthetic, we seek to develop a design language that grows out of the specific qualities of the site; a dialogue between our perspective and the local identity.
This approach helps us avoid superficial “globalized” design and instead fosters a meaningful connection between architecture and its environment.
We also feel very fortunate, because many of our projects are located in places with a strong cultural identity. For example, the Dancing Stone Forest is in Hulan, Harbin — the hometown of Xiao Hong, one of China’s most renowned female poets. Her book Tales of Hulan River gives this land a deep sense of cultural romance. The Voyage Chapel is in Lingshui, Hainan, a town right next to the famous resort city of Sanya. But unlike Sanya’s highly commercial atmosphere, Lingshui feels more like a fisherman’s ballad — down to earth, full of vitality and everyday life. Our upcoming project in Hunan, meanwhile, is about the rebirth of an industrial ruin. These sites, even before design begins, already carry what we call a ‘local cultural gene.’ Under the influence of this unique gene, our work is constantly inspired, even transformed. It is truly the local culture that makes our architecture possible.
Dancing Stone Forest by WAG Architects, Harbin, China | Popular Choice Winner, Pop Ups & Temporary, 13th Annual A+Awards
HF: Your Dancing Stone Forest project, which just won an Architizer A+Award, defamiliarizes the familiar — a creative strategy that aims to inspire new ways for humans and nature to relate. What inspired the design?
DW: To be honest, Dancing Stone Forest was one of the most unique design experiences I’ve ever had. We designed it in just one day — and built it in another.
When we received the commission, it honestly felt impossible: an extremely limited budget, hardly any time, and the requirement to create a high-quality installation. But we accepted the challenge, we were curious: what is the limit of a designer’s capability? Could we rise to the challenge under such constraints? And we did.
What makes this project unique is that it didn’t begin with a big concept or a bold artistic vision. It began with a very practical question: how can we build this quickly? That’s why our first decision was to work with inflatable structures — a practical choice driven by speed, affordability, and ease of construction.
Once we settled on inflatables, we began to explore how to use them, what forms they could take, and what meanings they might carry. The site — a national wetland park — inspired a connection to Stonehenge, with its ancient vertical stones. We realized that the inflatable columns shared a similar form, but with a playful twist: unlike real stones, they could move, sway and even “dance” when people touched them.
And suddenly the installation took on a new life: a “dancing Stonehenge” co-performed by the public; a choreographed interaction between people and soft, playful structures; an unexpected moment of joy and meaning at an outdoor arts festival.
Dancing Stone Forest by WAG Architects, Harbin, China | Popular Choice Winner, Pop Ups & Temporary, 13th Annual A+Awards
HF: Can you share a bit more about how the project was received by visitors to the Longjiang Wetland Art Festival?
DW: The response to Dancing Stone Forest at the Longjiang Wetland Art Festival was incredibly heartwarming. Children were running through the inflatable columns, pushing them, weaving between them, playing hide-and-seek. Of course, many people were taking photos and videos — as you would expect at a public installation — but what really surprised me was how adults actively joined in.
Parents and even strangers began to play hide-and-seek alongside the children. There was something about the softness and movement of the inflatables that made people feel safe, light-hearted and playful. In that moment, I felt the installation had done something quite special: it gave adults permission to reconnect with a sense of childlike joy.
That was never something we explicitly designed for, but witnessing it happen felt like a reward greater than any formal recognition. It reminded us that architecture, even at its simplest, has the power to bring people together and open up new emotional landscapes.
HF: What did winning an A+Award for this project mean to you and your team?
DW: Winning the A+Award for Dancing Stone Forest was an incredible affirmation for our team. It felt like a strong recognition — not just of the project itself, but of the values behind it. It helped us further clarify how we want to evaluate what makes a “good” architectural work.
The Voyage Chapel by WAG Architects, Hainan, China
HF: Stone Forest plays with materiality, presenting a “soft,” synthetic version of a natural element typically defined by its solidity. Do you have other projects that subvert expectations in other ways?
DW: In another project of ours that also received an A+Award — Voyage Chapel — we challenged expectations by using solid architectural forms to express the fluidity of water. A cascading stair formation was designed to simulate the rhythm of ocean waves and the layered topography of the seafloor. By subtly changing the texture of materials across the surface, we created the illusion of varying depths, much like the ocean itself. Beneath the steps, the space feels like being submerged underwater, where light filters through to create a shimmering, rippling effect. Above the steps, visitors traverse a sculpted terrain that evokes the sensation of walking on waves — a poetic gesture that ties directly back to the project’s name: Voyage Chapel.
HF: Do you have any upcoming projects that you’re excited about?
DW: Yes, we’re currently working on a project that we’re really excited about: it’s the adaptive reuse of an abandoned industrial site in Hunan, China. This site was once a key driver of the region’s economy, but like many industrial zones across China, it fell into disuse as the times changed. After decades of abandonment, the site — now covered in rubble, with collapsed structures and exposed ruins — is finally being reactivated through a major urban renewal initiative.
Our firm has been invited to design several of the commercial spaces within the development. For us, the excitement lies not only in the design challenges, but in the chance to contribute to the revitalization of a site with such deep historical and emotional weight.
sPOTs – an urban climate island by WAG Architects, Concept that will appear in the Red Dot Award winners’ exhibition, opening in October at the Red Dot Design Museum in Singapore
We believe architects have a responsibility to create positive social impact. Projects like this allow us to do exactly that. By transforming these forgotten industrial remnants into vibrant, accessible spaces for public life, we’re helping to reconnect people with the physical memory of the city rather than erasing it. This kind of work is not just about architectural form — it’s about urban memory, continuity and healing.
We’re especially interested in how commercial functions can be interwoven with civic and cultural layers, bringing new energy to the site while honoring its past. It’s a design process that’s both grounded and imaginative, and we feel lucky to be a part of it.
Sustainability is also a key principle guiding our design strategy. We’re committed to making sure that the transformation of this site doesn’t become an environmental burden, but instead represents a kind of material rebirth.
Wherever possible, we aim to reuse existing materials and integrate the remnants of the original structures into the new design — both to reduce waste and to retain the authentic texture of the place. In a way, it’s about letting the ruins speak, and building with their voice, not over it.
HF: If you had one piece of advice to architecture firms considering entering the A+Awards next year, what would it be?
DW: The Architizer A+Awards celebrates architecture in all its forms, whether it’s a small installation or a full-scale urban renewal. If your project has vision and integrity, it deserves to be seen. Don’t hesitate. Don’t underestimate your work. If you pour your heart into it and have the courage to share it, there’s a real chance you’ll be seen, understood, and celebrated. We’re living proof of that.
To see more of WAG Architects’ award-winning projects, visit the firm’s in-depth Architizer profile.
This article was produced in partnership with WAG Architects as part of an A+Awards special feature series. Top image: Street Mirrors – Nanjing Historical Building Renovation
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