AIA Hong Kong

AIA Hong Kong – May President’s Message

Dear AIA Members & Friends:

Greetings from AIA HK.

Nepal

Time goes by so quickly; it has been almost a month since the deadly earthquake hit Nepal and brought devastation and suffering to people of all ages. It was also sad to see much heritage wiped out all at once. The AIA Foundation is taking donations in this regard; please take a moment to visit www.aia.org and make a donation to those in need in Nepal.

Many organizations have come forward to help in the recovery effort, including Habitat for Humanity, Billion Bricks, the International Red Cross, and others. There will be a huge rebuilding effort that will follow the recovery and I am eager to see how we as a chapter can get more involved in the recovery and rebuilding of Nepal. If you are interested and have thoughts or ideas, please do let me know.

Completed Events

Thank you for your involvement, continued support and participation in all the events we’ve held so far this year. Also I thank EXCO members and Committee members who have worked hard, together with Catherine Wong and Vivian Chan from the Chapter Office at PMQ, to make these events happen.

We had our public housing building tour on May 4, which included a visit to Domain, a commercial and community centre, and Yau Lai Estate Phase 5. It was quite interesting, affording us a glimpse of public rental housing units and retail developments built by the Housing Authority.

Kenneth Hau, AIA and I went to the AIA National Convention in Atlanta to represent AIA Hong Kong, along with Peter Basmajian, AIA and Christine Bruckner, FAIA representing the International Region. It was good to see John Sellery, AIA from the Hong Kong Chapter, and Greg Yager, AIA President of AIA Shanghai. This was a great opportunity to participate in the AIA IR Workshop and the IR meeting and elections, and also to meet with AIA Leadership. We also witnessed Moshe Safdie, FAIA, receive his AIA Gold Medal Award, and heard President Clinton deliver a keynote on various issues and opportunities to combat Climate Change.

Upcoming Events

While May was less hectic, June is fully loaded, with the AIA Leadership visiting us in Hong Kong. This is a great opportunity to meet in person with AIA President, Elizabeth Chu Richter, FAIA and AIA CEO, Robert Ivy, FAIA. Upcoming events in May and June include the following:

May 28 – Joint AIA Hong Kong and RIBA Cocktail Event

The AIA Leadership Series

June 4 – AIA Hong Kong Luncheon with the AIA President, Elizabeth Chu Richter, and AIA CEO Robert Ivy

June 5 – Young Architects Forum with AIA Leadership, Ronald Lu and Partners, in Wan Chai

June 6 – Building/Site tour to Kadoorie Estate, Kowloon

June 8, – Q2, Presidential Forum, at Education First, Times Square, Causeway Bay

June 10 – Moshe Safdie Lecture, supported by AIA Shanghai

June 16 – Ed Marzia Lecture, Hong Kong

June 27 – (TBC) Macau Tour

We will have the Joint AIA Hong Kong and RIBA Cocktail Event at Fly in Central. Come and enjoy meeting fellow architects from RIBA, and enjoy a drink or two. This will be the last event in May. We start June with a series of events to coincide with the AIA Leadership visit. This will begin with our AIA Luncheon on June 4 at Ista Indian Restaurant in Central, to hear about the National Convention, plans for the repositioning of AIA, and an update on the AIA Foresight Report.

This will be followed by the Young Architects Forum organized by Vikki Lew, AIA on June 5, at the offices of Ronald Lu and Partners. This will provide an opportunity for our young architects to converse with Elizabeth and Robert from AIA Leadership, and learn about organization-wide initiatives for emerging professionals. Thanks to Ronald Lu, AIA, Past President, for sponsoring the event and supporting the next generation of architects.

Our building/site tour for June is of the residential neighbourhood of Kadoorie Estate, in complete contrast to the public housing estate tour we had in early May. This will take us to an old estate that has been conserved, with buildings renovated to showcase different design styles. As of today, the tour is fully booked and promises to be a great look into a unique part of Kowloon. Towards the end of June, we are planning to have a visit to Macau, and towards end of the year to Shenzhen; stay tuned for further details.

We will be hosting our second Quarterly: the Presidential Forum involving the AIA Leadership as well as HKIA, RIBA, HKGBC, HKIUD focusing on Architecture and Cities. The event will be hosted at Education First in Times Square on June 8, with a cocktail reception sponsored by JEB. The Director of Planning, Mr. KK Ling, will join the esteemed panel; this should be an engaging discussion not to be missed!

Your AIA Team

The Communication Committee is working hard to get the exhibition ready at the Chapter Office, focussing on adaptive reuse, including material from all the building tours we have had this year. Kenneth Hau, AIA and I have been working together to sustain and increase our membership and bring on board more Corporate Affiliates, potential sponsors, and members.

Don’t forget the call for Honors & Awards that went out already; be sure to submit before the deadline in September, which is earlier than typical years.

I look forward to seeing you all at the upcoming AIA Hong Kong and RIBA Joint Cocktail event on May 28 and at the events in early June as part of the AIA Leadership Series. Come join and show support to your AIA HK chapter and have an opportunity to meet and interact with the President and CEO of AIA, Elizabeth Chu Richter, FAIA and Robert Ivy, FAIA and the various events planned to actively engage members of AIA HK and to make their visit special.

Again thank you for the opportunity to serve you. 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 year in 2016 and beyond.

Sujata S. Govada, PhD

2015 President, AIA Hong Kong

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