Arthur Huang
Arthur Huang (黃謙智) is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of MINIWIZ, a Taipei-based company dedicated to upcycling trash to create versatile, high performance, and ultra-low carbon materials suitable for uses ranging from buildings to consumer products.[1] Huang graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in Architecture in 2001, and in 2004, he obtained a Master of Architecture degree with a concentration in sustainability development from Harvard GSD. He is listed as one of Perspective Magazine’s 40 under 40 for his impact and continuous involvement in sustainable products and building solutions.[2]
In August 2010, Huang won The Earth Awards for leading the development of “POLLI-Brick,”[3] an architectural brick made from recycled plastic bottles. In May 2010, MINIWIZ used POLLI-Bricks to build the EcoARK, the main exhibition hall of the Taipei International Flora Exposition. It is estimated that this pavilion used 1.5 million recycled Polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, bottles,[4] and was commissioned by the Far Eastern Group to promote recycling awareness.[5] The pavilion is featured in an hour-long National Geographic special, Megastructures: EcoARK.[6] POLLI-Brick was nominated as a contender for the Wall Street Journal’s Asian Innovation Awards 2011.[7]
In addition to managing MINIWIZ, Huang collaborates extensively with universities around the world. From the age of 26, Huang started teaching, first, as a full-time professor at the prestigious Tunghai University Architecture Program, then as a part-time Assistant Professor at NCTU.[8] In 2011, he joined forces with Harvard GSD’s Professor Bechthold,[9] Director of Architecture Technology and Fabrication, to create the “Innovation in Low Carbon Building Envelop” engineering program.[10] This three-year Harvard + MINIWIZ joint research program focuses on sharing green technology research between Greater China and the US, and involves professional engineers and architects from MINIWIZ, and design and business school students from Harvard University.
