JJ TAN — DESIGNER + FOUNDER

Born in Kuala Lumpur. Raised in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Beijing. Trained in San Francisco. Back in KL.

I’m JJ Tan, a designer based in Greater Kuala Lumpur and the founder of Haus of Techniques, an independent studio working across design, manufacturing, and visual communication.

I’ve lived in six cities across Asia and North America, spent a summer studying architecture in New York, bounced between San Francisco and Taipei, and travelled across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Beijing is where art and design took hold. Hong Kong is where architecture did. San Francisco is where I learned to make it buildable. Each place left something in how I work, and that’s what the studio is built on.

My professional background spans residential, hospitality, and technically informed design projects across North America and Asia. I specialize in off-site and modular construction, including volumetric systems, panelized assemblies, mass timber, cross-laminated timber, and light-gauge steel. My work is guided by technical precision in service of livable, human-scaled spaces.

Before establishing Haus of Techniques, I spent more than three and a half years at Anderson Anderson Architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I progressed to Project Manager. I led and coordinated architectural projects from early design through execution, with a particular focus on off-site and modular construction.

Working across volumetric modular systems, panelized wall, roof, and floor assemblies, mass timber, CLT, and light-gauge steel gave me a broad understanding of how different prefabrication strategies affect design intent, cost, schedule, transportation, assembly, and buildability. This experience allows me to help clients evaluate which approach best responds to a project’s site, budget, timeline, and ambitions.

My earlier experience includes a technical design internship at EDG Interior Architecture & Design in California, where I worked on high-end hospitality projects, and an apprenticeship at Ernie Yim Design Atelier in Hong Kong. This cross-cultural foundation continues to shape how I think about design, technology, and craftsmanship, pairing North American technical rigor and process discipline with an Asian sensitivity to materiality and detail.

I hold a Bachelor of Architecture from California College of the Arts, where I studied from 2014 to 2019.

I see modular and panelized construction as a discipline rather than a constraint. It requires clear decisions early, before a component is manufactured or a panel reaches the site. That rigor, combined with close attention to how people experience and inhabit space, drives my work at Haus of Techniques.