expertise work about people news contact Studio Hillier Welcomes Yidian and Nathaniel Studio Hillier is delighted to welcome two new architectural staff, Yidian Liu and Nathaniel Banks. Yidian and Nathaniel have ambitions to establish their own design practice with a considered approach to building systems while crafting techniques to develop highly innovative, beautiful, and sustainable spaces for 21st century cities. In the interim, they have chosen to partner with Studio Hillier, leveraging the studio’s extensive experience executing projects of all scales and types to exceedingly high standards, in order to learn a more grounded approach to design enabling them to develop radical conceptual designs to a resolution that can be practically and affordably constructed. Yidian Liu is a distinguished designer & AIANYS scholar with a master’s degree from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University. Through her design work and research, Yidian aims to ameliorate emergent problems faced by the public within contemporary urban environments. She has experience working in international architecture and landscape design firms, including Lola Landscape Architects in Rotterdam, West Architecture in London, and Vector Architects in Beijing. Yidian has also been the recipient of many international design awards and her work has been exhibited in the IHA Gallery in Tokyo and Slocum Hall in Syracuse. Nathaniel Banks is a passionate designer with a master’s degree from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University wherein he was the joint recipient of the James A. Britton Award for Faculty Favorite Thesis. His design interests focus on developing sustainable infrastructure for emergent industries in postindustrial cities. Nathaniel received awards in multiple academic and international design competitions, including the Princeton Research Day Award, the Skyhive 2019 Tower Competition, and the Terraviva Living Museum Competition. Nathaniel has also worked in a variety of prestigious landscape and architectural design practices, including David Chipperfield Architects, Heatherwick Studio, Grant Associates, Zaha Hadid Architects and Karakusevic Carson Architects.