Born in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and raised in Taipei, Chang's professional style was greatly influenced by her architect father.

Alie Chang shakes hands with a host during a TV show on architecture in this undated photo.

During her five years of formal training in art and design in Taipei, Chang learned under contemporary masters from a wide range of artistic disciplines, such as Chinese calligraphy and the way ancient Chinese ink painters dealt with abstract philosophical spaces.

She says she learned to look at humanity as an integral part of nature and nature as a force in everyday life.

Chang earned her Masters of Arts degree in Environmental Design from the University of California Los Angeles, and later served as a project designer at the acclaimed William L Pereira Associates firm in Los Angeles.

"All of these disciplines are part of my design process. I look at a home or building as if it is a hollow sculpture. Its function and beauty are within the part of the space that is empty," says Chang.

She has become one of the leading advocates for integrating an Asian sensibility into Western-style home design. Her approach acknowledges the wisdom of the Feng Shui principles of harmony and prosperity.

"I try to incorporate my innate sense of Feng Shui philosophy into my homes, as I do in all my designs, so that the houses are harmonious with the land in which they are rooted."

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese practice that focuses on the relationship between the position of buildings and natural elements such as the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars.

"Zen philosophy also taught me peace of mind, which is achieved by following the flow of nature's energy," she says. "In design, I start with an inner process, rather than with the imposition of a style or a method of construction."

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