Ray Wang

SMArchS Urbanism

Ray is a Researcher and Architect based at MIT. He is a dual-degree candidate in SMEECS & SMArchS Urbanism (‘25) and works at the intersection of design and technology. Currently, he serves as a Teaching Assistant in MIT's Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) program and as a Research Assistant in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory's (CSAIL) HCI Engineering Group.

Before joining MIT, he was a registered architect from Taiwan. With years of professional experience, he has worked on projects throughout Kyoto, Taipei, Singapore, and Boston. He holds a B.Arch from National Cheng Kung University, where he received the Thesis Award with Distinction in 2019. His research at MIT, focusing on sustainable architecture and urbanism, is currently supported by the Taiwanese government.

Since 2019, Ray has established WZR, a multi-disciplinary design practice. He has been actively involved in a number of international exhibitions and events, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), MIT Media Lab, MIT Wiesner Art Gallery, Politecnico di Milano, and Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-Lab).

Projects
Rocket Horizon
MIT’s Rocket Horizon project is leading a new approach to creating lunar habitats. This collaboration brings together MIT’s Department of Architecture, Media Lab, Aero Astro, and Sloan School of Management, working together to adapt SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) into a reusable and sustainable living space on the Moon.
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HTMAA
A collective working archive on fabrications, fast prototyping, and human-computer interactions projects. This website showcases the journey through How to Make (Almost) Anything, a hands-on course at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms that explores the fundamentals of digital fabrication. Throughout the semester, a diverse set of skills, including computer-aided design (CAD), electronics production, embedded programming, CNC machining, and composite fabrication, was applied.
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Follow the Tuna
Following the Tuna, the research aims to reveal various scales and steps in transnational extraction operations. Each action represents a different scale of interest transformation. This liquid urbanism examines the dynamic urban movement entirely predicated upon global extraction's political and economic interests, often overlooking fundamental contexts such as culture, history, geography, ecology, and humanity. The project was presented at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 2025.
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Generative AI in Design
The proposed workflow with the diffusion model integrates dataset training and Generative AI at its core, leading to a more efficient and productive design workflow. One of the most intriguing aspects of this integration is the concept of a cross-scale design process. This method leverages AI to create designs that are not only visually stunning but also highly functional at various scales - from interior and architecture to large-scale urban landscapes.
The Parthenon
In 2023, a temporary pavilion named "The Parthenon" was constructed at the former Air Force Command Headquarters in Taipei as part of the Annual Exhibition at the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab. Utilizing industrial materials and contemporary construction methods, the team constructed an evolving public container that could be disassembled and reassembled at various civic activity sites. Its recyclable and open-ended design embodies the principles of sustainability and adaptability.
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Damp Skin
Damp Skin is a collaborative project exploring the impact of East Asia’s climate on post-modernized cities, focusing on memories, body perception, and everyday cultural phenomena affected by humidity and heat. This exhibition, The Porous Urbanity and Individual, presents three works by MIT Taiwanese architects and design researchers. These works include a living archive and historical research of Taiwanese domesticity as it contends with dampness within urban housing, a sculpture series capturing emotional imprints of exhaling skin within Taiwan and Hong Kong’s urban environments, and digital representations of urban life’s permeable, living skin.
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Contact

zrwang@mit.edu

Links

Linkedin