Gary Xiong, Director at CAN

Gary is a design and quality-focused professional passionate about problem-solving. In 2020, Gary left previous company and co-manages CAN, a brand-new young and energetic architectural design firm in Hong Kong. As Director at CAN, Gary skillfully manages budgets, challenging project timelines, and project design, as well as daily operations and human resources, to ensure the robust growth of the studio. Over the past two years, the firm has expanded from a group of 10 to 60 creative minds.

With his aptitude for creative thinking and over 15 years of experience, Gary has tackled a variety of complex mixed-use, transit-oriented developments, renovation, offices, residential and towers, and retail projects across the Asia Pacific region.

Gary places human experience and well-being at the core of his designs, which aim to celebrate the local uniqueness and individuality beyond aesthetics. He always challenges himself and encourages the team to think beyond geometry and think outside the box while maintaining a high quality of project delivery. He seeks to actively cultivate long-lasting relationships with clients and ensure successful project outcomes for diverse stakeholders. Gary brings his passion for problem-solving, dedicated management expertise, and design innovation to all his projects. He leads a multi-disciplinary team that applies design thinking through a human-centric and innovative lens to create built environments that inspire community interaction and fulfillment. Gary is often recognized for his collaborative approach in tackling complex design issues. He has fostered the firm culture, empowering staff to innovate and identify strategic opportunities and elevate the human experience.

Stephen Ip, Divisional Director at CAN

‘Architecture is about people’ – Stephen puts the mission of creating human-centric designs into action by applying his professional knowledge to deliver good designs and contribute to society for a livable future.

His creative approach with diverse experience helps him successfully navigate projects while keeping the human experience at the fore. He shared, “Turning ideas into reality gives me a sense of accomplishment; while empowering the public to have a stake in what is built around them offers me the greatest sense of achievement.” He plays a leading role in a wide range of high-profile and award-winning projects including mixed-use, retail, office, cultural, hotel, TOD, and public infrastructures. He thoroughly examines each site’s relationship to its history, environment, and stakeholders’ needs, ensuring every possibility has been investigated for a human-centric design solution.

Stephen embraces the power of architecture, and participated in numerous of exhibitions include UABB HK, detour, Venice Biennale etc. to share innovative design and promote architecture to the public. Stephen has courage to challenge the status quo, he has spent years on promoting upcycling glass bottles into sustainable products and to raising environmental awareness. He is currently working on the Revamp for the St. James’ Settlement, to create a place to grow old with dignity. He is committed to nurturing the young generation. Besides as guest critic at HKU and Chuhai College, he plays a key role in HKIA activities and events, he was a former Co-chairman of the Young Members Committee and the Co-chairman of the HKIA Annual Exhibition Curator to promote architecture in Hong Kong.

Gary and Stephen will continue to work closely with our Managing Director Stephen Chow(recipient of 40 Under 40 Awards 2016) to take CAN’s designs to the next level, soaring to new height in the coming years.

Read the full winner list here: https://perspectiveglobal.com/40-winners/