AIA Hong Kong

AIA Hong Kong – July President’s Message

Dear Members and Friends,

Greetings from AIA Hong Kong!

In July, we had the F11 Heritage Building tour in Happy Valley, which, I am told, participants really enjoyed.

An Italian design competition for a site in Hong Kong was also launched; several Italian architectural firms have registered for this and are looking for AIA HK members to team up with. I encourage members to let the chapter know if they are interested so we can help you join one of the teams and collaborate on the competition. There are prizes for the four wining entries but the top ten entries will be exhibited in Milan, and Hong Kong as well.

Young and emerging architects: this is something you should join quickly before it is too late. Note that next year the competition is likely to be for a site in Milan.

Charles Correa

I would like to pay tribute to Indian architect, Charles Correa, who passed away recently; he made significant contributions to the design world with his sensitive approach to architecture and was responsible for a lot of sensitive and interesting work. He is quite famous not only for his design but also for his thoughtful discourse on architecture and society.

H&A Awards

Thank you to all members who made H&A submissions on July 17th. Catherine and Vivian will be busy with these until the H&A ceremony on September 30 following the adjudication next month. We have a great jury lined up, so stay tuned for the announcement of award winners this year.

 Jury Panel

Leslie Lu, AIA – HK Design Centre

Michael Ngu, AIA – Architects61

Hannes Pfau, – UNStudio

Michael Thanner, Assoc. AIA – Tange Associates

Rocco Yim – Rocco Yim and Partners

I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Jeff Klein, International Business Development Manager of our First Annual Sponsor – Big Ass Fans – who sponsored their first AIA Hong Kong event, the Zero Carbon Building and the City evening which included a short tour of the ZCB in Kowloon Bay, as well as panel presentations and discussion that followed. The Undersecretary for the Environment and guest of honor, Christine Loh, spoke about low carbon buildings and the Energy Savings Plan to make Hong Kong a low carbon city. The complete panel of speakers included Raymond Yau of Arup, MK Leung of Ron Lu & Partners, Sean Quinn of 10 Design, as well as Jeff Klein. The key questions raised centered on the fact that zero carbon buildings to date have been ‘smaller’ buildings and the issue remains how to make our existing building stock much more energy efficient – even if not zero carbon.

Upcoming Events

August 1 – Macau Tour: a tour of heritage buildings and the Galaxy Casino guided by Rui Leao, ending with a light show organized by CLA and the Galaxy Hotel.

August 21 – Q3: Urban Regeneration and the City, Allan Zeman confirmed to speak, save the date!

September 11-14: AIA IR Conference in Kyoto

September 30: H&A Award Night

November – Annual Dinner: Date TBC

Your AIA Team

I thank ExCo members and Committee members who have worked hard, especially this month, together with Catherine Wong and Vivian Chan from the Chapter Office at PMQ, to make these events happen. I look forward to seeing you all at the upcoming AIA Hong Kong events in August and beyond. Come join and show your support, meet and interact with other members and our Corporate Affiliates.

I am pleased to see young, emerging professionals keen to join the AIA Hong Kong Young Architects Group which we need to formalize so we can have a lower rate these members.

I welcome you to join a committee and get more involved this year to make a difference. Let’s continue to work together to make the rest of this year great and lay the foundation for a fantastic 2016.

Sujata S. Govada, PhD

2015 President, AIA Hong Kong

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