Dear Members and Friends:
I would like to wish everyone a wonderful Chinese New Year blessed with happiness and health, and filled with great design ideas and golden moments.
Last month we kicked off 2014 with our first event at ArtisTree in Taikoo Place. About 60 participants were treated to a detailed and insightful tour of the exhibition “Building M+: The Museum and Architecture Collection” by Mr. Aric Chan and Ms. Shirley Surya (Curator and Assistant Curator, respectively, of Design and Architecture at M+, the new museum for visual culture). Following the exhibition tour the group gathered nearby for a reception and discussion about how greatly the future M+ and its surrounding West Kowloon Arts and Cultural District will benefit Hong Kong. It was especially pleasant to meet a number of new faces amongst the group, some of whom were attending their first event with AIA Hong Kong.
Now that we are back from the New Year Holiday break, we look forward to hosting a series of other unique events which are sure to be both inspiring and educational.
Next up, on February 13, we will be co-hosting (with the Asia Society Hong Kong Center) AIA Hong Kong’s First Quarterly Presentation for 2014. Our featured speaker will be Moshe Safdie, FAIA, CC, internationally renowned architect, educator, theorist and author, as famous for his architectural teaching as for his design of a number of landmark buildings spanning from Habitat ’67, in Canada, to such recent examples as the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort in Singapore.
Following that, on February 27, we have planned a fun and instructive Jazz music evening at the Essess Showroom to learn about the art of designing space for sound, entitled “JAZZ- recording and reproduction of this unique music”
Then, on March 6, we kick off our tripartite series of presentations on innovative “Advanced Materials,” new technologies, products and research. Our first speaker will be Dr Toby Gill, who will present possible uses and applications of such new materials as graphene and self healing concretes.
Later in March we plan to tour the new Zaha Hadid designed “Innovation Tower” and we will also be hearing from the Hong Kong Green Building Council on their current sustainability initiatives.
All in all, we have a diverse and, hopefully, enlightening series of events, tours and presentations planned for the year ahead and we look forward to seeing you often, to share in the creative spirit. Once again, on behalf of the AIA Hong Kong Chapter, please allow me to wish you a most Inventive, Innovative and Inspirational 2014!
Christian Low, AIA
2014 President, AIA Hong Kong Chapter