Dara Huang (born 1981) is an American architect based in London. In 2013, she founded the architecture and design firm Design Haus Liberty. She is the co-founder of Dara Maison with J. Christopher Burch, a furniture and interiors brand. Huang is a survivor of the

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks, also referred to as 26/11 attacks, were a series of coordinated Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist o ...

. Huang's son, Christopher Woolf Mapelli Mozzi, is the stepson of

Princess Beatrice Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (Beatrice Elizabeth Mary; born 8 August 1988) is a member of the British royal family. She is the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. She is a niece of King Ch ...

Family and education

Dara Huang was born in Florida to

Taiwanese American Taiwanese Americans (traditional Chinese, Chinese: 臺灣裔美國人; pinyin: ''Táiwān yì měiguó rén''; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ''Tâi-Bí-jîn'') are Americans of Taiwanese people, Taiwanese ancestry, including American-born descendants of migrant ...

immigrants. Her father is a retired

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

rocket scientist. She attended the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

, from which she graduated in 2004 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in design. She was a member of

Alpha Delta Pi Alpha Delta Pi (), commonly known as ADPi (pronounced "ay-dee-pye"), is an International Panhellenic sorority founded on May 15, 1851, at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. It is the oldest secret society for women. Alpha Delta Pi is a member ...

sorority. She then earned a master's degree in architecture from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Huang was engaged to

Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi Edoardo Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi (born 19 November 1983) is a British property developer descended from Italian nobility. He is the founder and chief executive of Banda Property, a property development and interior design company. He became a me ...

, with whom she has a son, Christopher Woolf "Wolfie", born in 2016. The engagement was broken off in 2018.

Career

After graduating, Huang worked at architectural firms

Herzog & de Meuron Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd. is an international architecture firm headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, with additional offices in Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Munich, New York City, Paris, and San Francisco. Founded in 1978 by Jacques Herzog and ...

in Switzerland and

Foster and Partners Foster and Partners (also Foster + Partners) is a British international architecture firm with its headquarters in London, England. It was founded in 1967 by British architect and designer Norman Foster. The firm has been involved in the desig ...

in London. At these firms she worked on several large projects, including the skyscraper

56 Leonard Street 56 Leonard Street (known colloquially as the Jenga Building or Jenga Tower) is an , 57-story skyscraper on Leonard Street in the neighborhood of Tribeca in Manhattan, New York City. Completed in 2017, the building was designed by the Swiss a ...

in New York City,

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

in London, and

Manolo Blahnik Manuel "Manolo" Blahnik Rodríguez (; born 27 November 1942) is a Spanish fashion designer and founder of the eponymous high-end shoe brand. Biography Blahnik was born in Santa Cruz de la Palma, in the Canary Islands (Spain), to a Czech father ...

stores around the world. Huang has received several awards, including The Clifford Wong Prize, The KPF Travelling Fellowship, The Young Architects Award, and first place in the AIAS National Design Review.

Design Haus Liberty

In 2013, Huang opened her own architecture practice, Design Haus Liberty, in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

, London. Its work has been exhibited at

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

in London and the

Venice Biennale of Architecture The Venice Biennale of Architecture ( Italian: ''Mostra di Architettura di Venezia'') is an international exhibition showcasing architectural works from around the world, held in Venice, Italy, every other year. Originally held in even-numbered ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huang, Dara 1980s births 21st-century American architects 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century British architects 21st-century British businesspeople 21st-century British businesswomen American people of Taiwanese descent American construction businesspeople American emigrants to England American expatriates in Hong Kong American expatriates in Japan American expatriates in Switzerland American women architects Architects from Florida British construction businesspeople British people of Taiwanese descent British women architects Businesspeople from Florida Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni Living people Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom University of Florida alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Survivors of the 2008 Mumbai attacks