Although not a household name, Tommy Zung, founder and president of New York–based Studio Zung, wears more than one hat. Yes, he is an academically trained and licensed architect, but he’s also the owner of a design store in Soho, president of the Buckminster Fuller Partners Foundation (and even grew up with Buckminster Fuller), and someone with over 30 years of experience blurring the boundaries between architecture, fashion, design, art, and…surfing.
One of his local hangouts, Manhattan’s Altro Paradiso, was the perfect lowkey, relaxed atmosphere for Zung to recall his fascinating story. Right off the bat, he began with his father, a partner of Buckminster Fuller: “My father was told architecture was a white man’s profession, which offended him and made him work harder.”
Having an architect in the family didn’t mean the multihyphenate would follow in the same footsteps per se. “My father always told me I would become an architect. I rebelled and started a clothing company,” he admitted. “I mixed surfing, travel, and art and moved to New York, but I didn’t feel like I was changing the world. I then decided to go back to what I was rebelling against: architecture.” So begins an insightful, inspiring, and honest conversation with Zung.
Gay Gassmann (GG): Let’s go back to the beginning and your unusual and unique childhood which more or less set the groundwork for a life in architecture.
Tommy Zung (TZ): My father, Thomas T. K. Zung was born in China and moved to New York to study at Columbia University. He worked with the visionary Buckminster Fuller and became one his partners. Bucky was my godfather and I traveled with my dad and spent summers building models and doing site visits. I was hanging out with Bucky, Noguchi, Ruth Asawa, Merce Cunningham, Josef Albers, and everyone at Black Mountain College. I realize now what all of this meant but not then. I was absorbing all of this not knowing what was happening. Bucky was talking about the metaphysical aspect of architecture and he told me, “Don’t let the formal stunt you.” Bucky was always thinking big.
GG: What happened before you decided to set up your architectural practice?
TZ: The big architecture my dad was doing wasn’t resonating with me. Then, I went to La Jolla and I became infatuated with Louis Kahn and the Salk Institute. Light, shadow, nature—this changed me, plus the influence of Bucky and his metaphysical attitude. And I learned to surf. I traveled the world through surfing and art. I rebelled and started a clothing company after school. I moved to New York and did fashion shows, but I didn’t feel like this was changing anything.
GG: So you finally decided to go into architecture?
TZ: I studied environmental design at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and got my bachelors of architecture at the New York Institute of Technology. After my fashion stuff, I decided to go back to what I was rebelling against. My way was smaller, personal, and residential; not universities and institutions like my dad. I was interested in how people live and understanding the nuances of their lives. I still wanted to surf, but that’s when I started my practice. I had only worked for my father.
Read more of the interview with Tommy Zung on aninteriormag.com.
