Associate Director
MArch, AIA, NCARB
Hong Kong, China
Ed Gaskin
Photograph by Frederic Aranda ©
Ed has worked on location with teams across various continents, overseeing projects from early design stages through to completion, as well as supporting the office’s expansion. He first joined ZHA in 1989 and rejoined in 1999 to work on ZHA’s first project in the US, the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati. During this period, he contributed to projects in Europe and Japan, and the office’s exhibition at Harvard University. Returning to ZHA in 2010, he led the design for Sky SOHO in Shanghai and Leeza SOHO in Beijing before relocating to Nanjing to oversee the Jumeirah Nanjing Hotel & International Youth Cultural Centre. During these years, he learned to speak Mandarin. He led ZHA’s New York office between 2015 and 2020 and has since been based in the Hong Kong office. With exceptional skills in project management and technical delivery, his adaptability and international experience have been key to ZHA’s growth.
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Featured Projects
From a 3.2 million sq. ft. development in Hong Kong to a tower in Beijing with the world’s tallest atrium, discover highlights of Ed's notable projects at ZHA.
Ed received his Bachelor of Architecture cum laude from the University of Cincinnati, which included time studying in Copenhagen. He earned his Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design (GSD) at Harvard University. He has taught at Tulane University, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Louisiana. He is actively involved in academia as a visiting critic, participating in design reviews and critiques at prestigious institutions such as Hong Kong University.
Ed’s upbringing in rural America instilled in him a strong work ethic of dedication and perseverance. His passion for travel and his professional life have taken him to many places, and he now cherishes spending quality time with his family while continuing to explore new destinations.
Projects
Explore a selection of projects Ed has contributed to since joining ZHA.
Render by Hayes Davidson
Mixed Use
Offices
Adjacent to the West Kowloon Cultural District, the 3.2 million sq. ft. development above Hong Kong’s High Speed Rail West Kowloon Terminus connects established and emerging neighbourhoods with a network of public gardens and landscaped plazas.
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Residential
There is a powerful urban dynamic between the streets of New York and the High Line, a layered civic realm that has developed over generations and in many iterations. 520 West 28th conveys this contextual relationship, applying new ideas and concepts to create the latest evolution of the site’s rich history.
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Jiangxi River Bridge
Transport + Infrastructure
The first in a series of bridges on Chengdu’s West Line Road, the new 295-metre Chengdu West First Bridge crosses the Jiangxi River, a tributary of the Tuojiang River in China’s Sichuan province.
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Tall Buildings
Offices
Located on Lize Road in southwest Beijing, Leeza SOHO tower anchors the new Fengtai business district; a growing financial and transport hub between the city centre and the recently opened Beijing Daxing International Airport to the south.
Render by Negativ
Offices
The new Taikang Financial Centre will be a centre of excellence, developing effective systems and networks that will provide a new ecosystem of support for people of all ages across China. Using the new technologies developed within the Taikang Financial Centre, the group will continue its commitment to supporting community development, healthcare, education and well-being throughout the country.
Courtesy of CAT-OPTOGRAM 猫瞳
Culture
Integrating three distinct cultural institutions for the city, each venue within the Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Arts Centre incorporates unique characteristics that create differing visitor experiences, yet all are united by a coherent formal and structural logic that spans 170 meters wide from east to west and 270 meters long from north to south.
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Civic
Mixed Use
The Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre harnessed the energy of the 2014 Youth Olympic Games to create a project with a lasting legacy that has enhanced and also regenerated its setting; acting as both an anchor and a catalyst for future investment in Nanjing’s Hexi New Town.
Photograph by Virgile Simon Bertrand
Offices
Mixed Use
Located in the Linkong Economic Park within the Hongqiao Business Zone, served by its transportation hub with subway and rail, and close to Shanghai city centre and the airport, Sky Soho connects multinational, national and local enterprises with local residents.
Courtesy of Soho China, photograph by Jerry Yin
Offices
Mixed Use
Located in Wangjing’s centre, Wangjing Soho is a mixed-use development consisting of three towers 118, 127, 200 metres in height designed as three interweaving ‘mountains’ that fuse building and landscape to bring together the surrounding community with a new 60,000m² public park. The design responds to the flows of the city and allows natural daylight into each building from all directions.
Photograph by Roland Halbe
Culture
Our free-standing building for the Contemporary Arts Center provides space for temporary exhibitions, installations and performance. Conceived as a dynamic public space, an ‘Urban Carpet’ leads pedestrians into and through the interior space via a gentle slope, which becomes, in turn, wall, ramp, walkway and even an artificial park space.
Photograph by Roland Halbe
Sports
ZHA's ski jump on Bergisel mountains contains a ski ramp and sports facilities, as well as public spaces, including a tower-top café and viewing terrace. Rising to a height of almost 50m the structure’s distinctive form and silhouette extends the topography of the ski slopes below into the alpine sky above.
Photograph by Paul Warchol
Fire part of the project, Lounge Area
Interior Architecture
Fire meets ice to create two strange, synthetic worlds in Moonsoon. A formal eating area features cool greys, tables reinvented as ice shards, and a raised ‘iceberg’ floor area. Above, a furnace of fire contrasts the relaxation lounge – all searing reds, brilliant yellows and exuberant oranges.
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12