EVA Architects

What EVA Architects does

EVA Architects (艺瓦建筑) is a Shanghai-headquartered boutique architecture and design firm founded in 2015 that provides integrated architecture, interior design, landscape design, planning, and exhibition/installation services across five thematic verticals: education (育人, "cultivating people"), memorial/life culture (渡人/人文), corporate/office (聚人, "gathering people"), wellness/healing (愈人), and cultural and hospitality spaces. The firm's primary vertical is K-12 and international school campus design, where it has completed over 1,024,784 square meters of campus space across roughly six years, including a 120,000 sqm K-12 campus for Ardingly International School in Zhongshan. The client base is institutional and enterprise: international and bilingual schools (Shanghai Lucton School, BISS, Ardingly, Chengdu Huaai), memorial services operators (Fushouyuan Group across multiple projects including HQ, service center, columbarium, and a 10,104 sqm Carving Art Museum), multinational corporates (Accenture Dalian, Cummins Chongqing), green-tech (Envision Group), and retail (doTERRA Jing'an flagship).

The firm is built around a small core team of approximately 13 professionals, including Managing Director Wang Yuan (王元/Alan Wang, co-founder and frequent conference speaker), Design Director Li Cen (李岑/Cen Li), Technical Director Su Zhizhi (苏志智/Chi Chi So), and a Class One Registered Architect (Shen Jun/沈珺). EVA's design philosophy centers on "humanistic architecture" (人文建筑) emphasizing biophilic design (亲生物设计), functional expression of building use, cultural contextualism, and evidence-based spatial design. Notable proprietary frameworks include the "Campus as Micro-City" approach for school design, "Inside-Out Architecture" for educational buildings that display internal functions transparently to surrounding communities, and "Reality and Rationality as Beauty" for expressing structural mechanics through façade and interior design.

EVA's business model is professional services — design fees billed on a project-by-project basis across the full project lifecycle from concept through construction documentation. The go-to-market motion is event-driven and reputation-based: the firm wins work through participation in education architecture conferences (BEED Asia, BEED Asian School Construction Conference), design competition entries, an active awards submission strategy (Iconic Awards, MUSE, Archello, IDA, AIA Shanghai, GBE, Jinwa, Gold Bund, Tamayouz), direct institutional client relationships, and thought leadership including a planned Educational Architecture Handbook. The firm operates from a Shanghai headquarters (7F, No.553 Maotai Road, Changning District) and a Guangzhou office (Tianhe District) to serve projects across more than 17 Chinese cities. The firm is privately held, founder-owned with no disclosed external investment or institutional funding.

Name

EVA Architects

Legal name

EVA Architects

Website

https://evaarchitects.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

EVA Architects (艺瓦建筑) is a Shanghai-headquartered boutique architecture firm founded in 2015 that designs educational campuses, memorial/life-culture buildings, corporate offices, and cultural projects for institutional and enterprise clients across China.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Architectural Design Services

NAICS

Architectural Services (54131), Interior Design Services (541410)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Interior Design Services (BPAHAKAB), Landscape Architecture & Site Design (BPAHAKAC)

Keywords

• Architectural design services
• Interior design
• Education architecture
• Memorial architecture
• Campus design

Headquarters

HQ city

Shanghai

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Architectural Design Services: Fees for architectural design services covering the full project lifecycle from concept design through construction documentation for institutional, commercial, cultural, and memorial building projects.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

EVA Architects is a Shanghai-based architecture and design firm that delivers integrated architectural, interior, landscape, planning, and exhibition/installation design services for institutional clients. The firm's core work spans educational campuses (K-12 international schools and kindergartens), memorial and life-culture facilities (columbariums, memorial halls, museums), corporate offices, cultural centers, and hospitality/resort projects across China, with documented completion of over 1,024,784 sqm of educational campus design since 2015.

Product overview

EVA Architects (艺瓦建筑) is a Shanghai-based design firm providing integrated architectural and interior design services. The company operates across five core service areas: Architecture, Interior Design, Planning, Landscape, and Exhibition/Installation Design. Their project portfolio spans educational facilities (international schools, kindergartens), memorial/cultural buildings (columbariums, memorial halls, museums), commercial office interiors, cultural centers, and hospitality projects. Notable projects include the Hangzhou Taibao Community CCRC (continuing care retirement community), Qingpu Fushouyuan Columbarium, Ardingly International School in Zhongshan, Qingpu Cultural Center, and the Accenture Dalian Office. The firm has completed over 1,024,784 square meters of educational campus design across six years.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Architecture Design Services Comprehensive architectural design services covering educational campuses, memorial and cultural facilities, commercial office buildings, hospitality, and residential projects, delivered for institutional and corporate clients in China.
• Interior Design Interior space planning and design services for various building types including schools, offices, memorial facilities, and commercial spaces.
• Landscape Design Landscape architecture and outdoor space design integrated with EVA's architectural projects.
• Planning Services Urban and regional planning consultation services supporting EVA's architectural projects.
• Exhibition and Installation Design Exhibition and installation design services including museum displays and art installations, exemplified by the Guqin Exhibition and the WDCC 2023 Design Shanghai "Happy Community" international pavilion.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1,024,784 sqm of campus design completed in 6 years (2015–2021)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Tongji Architectural Design Institute (同济建筑设计院)keyStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021EVA Architects formed a joint design team with Tongji Architectural Design Institute for the Taibao Community Hangzhou International CCRC project, which won the 2021 Iconic Awards Innovation Architecture prize. The partnership leverages EVA's specialized humanistic architecture expertise combined with Tongji's institutional design capabilities.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Vector Architects: Chinese boutique architecture practice of similar size and typology (education, hospitality, cultural) with comparable international award trajectory; closest Chinese peer in scale and design positioning.
• MAD Architects: Beijing-headquartered boutique architecture firm with similar scale, strong international awards profile, and thought-leadership positioning in education and cultural projects; most profile-comparable Chinese peer.
• M Moser Associates: Asia-headquartered workplace and education design firm with strong China presence; directly comparable on corporate office and education campus commissions and on integrated architecture + interior service delivery.
• Lacime Architects: Shanghai-based Chinese architecture firm with comparable size, multi-disciplinary services, and active education and cultural project portfolio; directly competes for similar institutional clients.
• CannonDesign: Global design practice with a dedicated education studio; directly competes for K-12 and international-school campus commissions and overlaps on wellness/biophilic design positioning.
• Perkins&Will: Global architecture firm with a recognized K-12 and higher-education practice; directly competes with EVA in international-school campus design, particularly on Chinese and Asian institutional commissions.

Broad incumbents

• Gensler: Global design firm with a major Shanghai office and a large corporate/workplace practice; overlaps with EVA on corporate office commissions for clients such as Accenture and Cummins, but at much greater scale and breadth.
• Tongji Architectural Design Institute (TJAD): Largest Chinese architecture institute with whom EVA partnered on the Taibao CCRC; offers comprehensive architectural, engineering, and planning services at much greater scale, including the education and memorial segments where EVA competes.

Regional players

• UDG (United Design Group): Chinese architecture and engineering firm with comparable scale and education/cultural project mix; competes for institutional and corporate clients in mainland China.

Emerging players

• Fielding Nair International: Specialist practice focused on K-12 learning-space design; competes for the same international-school clients EVA targets but with a narrower, pedagogy-driven service offering.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/eva-architects
• Instagraminstagram.com/eva_architects_

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about EVA Architects