Dear Members and Friends of AIA Hong Kong:

You are cordially invited to join AIA Conference on Architecture 2019 June 6-8, Las Vegas, Nevada. 

The theme this year is Blueprint for a Better Future, with a focus on cities like Las Vegas as incubators for transformation and leading trends.

Future Cities
Beyond its excess, extremes, and appetite for the ersatz, Las Vegas is a global pioneer in design. Its ever-changing landscape is a ‘test tube’ for the kind of transformation that influences architecture and design trends the world over, not just the casinos and nightlife, but the hospitals, schools, community centers, parks, apartment buildings, and art installations that are part of people’s everyday lives.  This work is a testimony to how architects are designing a better future by taking on the critical challenges facing cities—and our world—today.

At A’19 some of the most creative architects, designers, visionaries, and trend curators will explore designing a better future, for everyone.

The A’19 program will include sessions on artificial intelligence, data visualization, 3D concrete printing, Amazon Spheres, tall wood, nano-grid condos, immigrant architects, overcoming homelessness, the latest in WELL design, the energy-hog myth, designing border crossings and ports of entry, zero net energy affordable housing, new codes and standards, and architecture tours of local standouts like Frank Gehry’s Lou Ruvo Brain Center, Seven Magic Mountains, and the Downtown Container Park.

Register NOW!

Due to popular demand, this event is sold-out. 

Please contact Chapter office if you wish to be on our waiting list.

Last Call for our building tour of The Mills!  There’re only a few seats left so please register latest by April 9th (Tuesday).

The Mills is a landmark revitalization project conceived and constructed by Nan Fung Group who were at the heart of the textile manufacturing industry in Hong Kong in the 1950s and operated one of the leading cotton spinning factories. The Mills pays homage to the history of industrial innovation by converting the now-dormant factories into a hub for technological and cultural innovation.  The three former mills have now been combined into a single, cohesive complex covering roughly 260,000 square feet, housing the Center for Heritage Arts & Textile (CHAT), Fabrica (an incubator, fund and space/lab/store), and Shopfloor. This project has successfully revitalized a traditional-industrial building, converting it into spaces that support the growth of new startups and cross-specialty collaborations in Hong Kong.

We will tour the facility with Ray Zee, General Manager of Design at Nan Fung Group, on April 11, 2019 (Thursday), at 7:30pm.   It will be concluded with a light refreshments host by The Mills.

Due to the popularity of our building tours and limited space available, early registration is strongly recommended. Priority will be given to AIA members.

We look forward to seeing you on April 11^th!

The 2019 Programs Committee of AIA Hong Kong

Limited car parking space available (Registration required).  Please state at the Comment field of the registration form for reservation of car parking space.

Special Thanks to

Please join us for our next Hello Fellow event with Professor Nelson Chen, FAIA, FRIBA, FHKIA.

Hello Fellow is a series of informal presentations intended to highlight our chapter’s FAIA leaders and their perspective on architecture, as well as to encourage members to apply for Fellowship.  AIA Hong Kong is pleased to announce this year’s event with Professor Nelson Chen, whose talk is titled Professing Architecture -focused on the intersection between practicing architecture professionally and teaching architecture in a professional degree program.  Professor Chen will also share his experience in applying for Fellowship, the process of doing so, and the roles and responsibilities that achieving FAIA status entails.

Professor Chen has been Principal Architect of Nelson Chen Architects Ltd (since 1987), Director of the School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (since 2014), and the founding president of the AIA Hong Kong Chapter (1997-98). He was elected a Fellow in 2010.  His designs have been featured in numerous publications and exhibitions, and he has won more than 35 international design awards from the American Institute of Architects and AIA Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, and UNESCO, among others.

The AIA Fellowship program was developed to acknowledge architects who have made significant contributions to architecture and society and achieved a standard of excellence in the profession. Fellowship recognizes the achievements of the architect as an individual and honors the awardee on a national, or international, level. The AIA College of Fellows seeks to stimulate a sharing of interests among Fellows and encourages them to promote the purposes of the Institute, advance the profession of architecture, mentor young architects, and be of ever-increasing service to society.

This event is one of our FAIA Leadership Series and will take place at KI CUBUS, Causeway Bay.  It will also be our Chapter’s First Quarterly Meeting!

Hourly parking service available at Lee Gardens (First come first served)

Venue Partner:

AV Sponsor:

If you are interested in supporting adaptive reuse efforts in Hong Kong, we have a wonderful opportunity for you. In conjunction with Asia Society Hong Kong (ASHK), we are offering members the opportunity to become docents, and to lead tours around the historic Asia Society campus.

As a docent, you will enrich your own understanding of the buildings that make up this adaptively re-used complex, the policies and history behind it, and help engage others in the important role this project plays in the highly developed urban environment of Hong Kong.

Transformed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and opened in 2012, the former Explosives Magazine of the old Victoria Barracks in Admiralty was re-established as the Asia Society Hong Kong Center -a fine example of repurposing a heritage site in a city where conservation and development are almost always in conflict.

Interested members are welcome to join the Docent Training Course that will be held on March 10th (Sunday) at 3:30pm and March 16th (Saturday) at 4:00pm.  The first session will comprise the current heritage tour, in English, led by ASHK. The second session will be an in-depth architectural tour in Cantonese led by the conservation project team, AGC Design.  These tours to be pre-register via the Chapter Office so please register via rsvp@aiahk.org latest by March 6th (Wednesday).

Please contact the Chapter Office (info@aiahk.org) for details. Trained docents will be asked to lead an architectural tour on March 23 (Saturday) and all docents will enjoy gratis access to one AIA Hong Kong event for each 1-hour session they lead.

Please join us for a tour of Haw Par Mansion on March 20 (Wednesday) 6:30-8:30 pm.

The former Haw Par Mansion, a Grade II historic building located in Causeway Bay, has been revitalized into the Haw Par Music Foundation. The original estate was built in the 1930s and consisted of a four-story mansion, a private garden, and the landscaped Tiger Balm Garden – which has since been demolished. The Mansion itself has been under preservation by the government since 2001.

Built in the Chinese Renaissance style which incorporated both Chinese and Western design elements and construction methods, the exterior of the Mansion features flying eaves, dougong bracket sets, red columns, and a green-glazed tiled roof and ridge decorations. On the interior, however, some distinctly Western features begin to appear in the form of an entrance porch and bay windows, and the floor layout is symmetrical, with a Palladian staircase and fireplaces, in the Western tradition. Additional interior features include painted glass windows from Italy, carvings and decorative moldings with gold gilding, as well as murals showing Indian and Burmese influences.

Join us on our tour of one of the few surviving examples of this eclectic Chinese architectural style that reflects the social and economic environment of 1930’s Hong Kong.

Due to the popularity of our building tours and limited space available, early registration is strongly recommended.  Priority will be given to AIA members.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The 2019 Programs Committee of AIA Hong Kong
Special Thanks to