Chung Tyson Architects

Practice Statement

Material Practice We are architects and makers who maintain direct engagement with materials and fabrication processes. For us, hands-on making is the best way to explore spatial and material ideas in relation to architectural design and production. We primarily build models as analytical tools for critical reflection and detail resolution, whilst conveying enjoyment, ideas and intentions.

Making Approach Making as a critical activity underpins all the projects in our studio. Projects frequently originate through physical modelling where materials and tectonics are immediately evident. For furniture, 1:1 scale prototypes are crafted to understand human contact and models at 1:10 scale to explore the relationship between material, structure and space. The physical model allows us to develop a project through tactile experience; helping to uncover material opportunities and understand assembly sequences that directly drive architectural outcomes.

Model Communication We also use models to communicate our design intentions for exhibitions or architectural competitions. These physical constructs serve to convey architecture by representing a project retrospectively or through evoking a fictional world. Ultimately, the physical presence and universal accessibility of a model have the unique power to connect the observer to an imagined place.

Images reference: RIBAJ West Fraser Storyboard Competition 2026 'Tales from the Urban Forest' Nick Tyson & Ming Chung

The project introduces a suite of temporary architectural follies set with in an imagined forest and civic space. Clustered around urban trees, the Festival of Storytelling explores the architectural potential of wood to connect young visitors to the lifecycle of trees - tracing the material journey from forest to lumber and paper for printed matter. The forest provides a thematic setting for literary imagination, while promoting a hands-on understanding of our environment.