2021 AIA Hong Kong Honors & Awards Exhibitiion

AIA Hong Kong 2022 Chapter Election-Call for Nomination

Dear Members

As a Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, AIA Hong Kong is required to hold an annual election for the following positions:

• Vice President / President-elect 2023
• Secretary
• Treasurer

In addition, we are seeking volunteers for the following standing committees:

• Programs Committee
• Membership Committee
• Communications Committee
• Honors and Awards Committee
• Nominating Committee
• Young Architects Group (YAG)

Additionally, next year marks the 25th Anniversary of our Chapter!

We are therefore also in search of members who would like to assist our 25th Anniversary Organizing Committee.

These voluntary positions are instrumental to the Chapter’s operation and present great opportunities for those of you who are looking to expand your network and engage with the community – as well as with other members.

As always, self-nominations for any of the above positions are welcome.

If you are ready for the challenge, please complete the Nomination Form (s) here and return to secretary@aiahk.org by Friday October 15, 2021. The Chapter Election will take place during our 2021 Annual General Meeting on Saturday, October 23, at 4:00pm at the Rosewood Hong Kong. More details to follow.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Chapter Office. We will be happy to discuss how you can contribute to our community.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Winston Yeo, AIA Florence Chan, AIA HKIA
2021 President Vice President / President-elect 2022

FINAL REMINDER: AIA Hong Kong Honors & Awards 2021 – Call for Entries

Dear Members

Only one week to go!

We would like to remind you that the 2021 AIA Hong Kong Honors and Awards Program submission deadline is next Tuesday, August 31, 2021.

The AIA Hong Kong Chapter’s annual Design Awards Program recognizes excellence in architecture, interior design, urban design and unbuilt projects undertaken by our members. The Program’s purpose is to increase awareness of outstanding design and to honor the AIA member architects, clients, and consultants who work together to improve the built environment.

For details about this year’s program, please follow the link below:

2021 AIA Hong Kong Honors and Awards Program – Entry Form

Submission deadline: Tuesday, August 31, 2021 | 17:00 (HKT)

Should you have any questions, please send your inquiry to: info@aiahk.org or call the Chapter Office at 2882 6011.

We look forward to seeing all your wonderful submissions!
Yours sincerely,

2021 Honors and Awards Committee
AIA Hong Kong

AIA Hong Kong Honors & Awards 2021 – Call for Entries

Dear Members

The AIA Hong Kong Chapter invites you to submit for the 2021 AIA Hong Kong Honors and Awards Program.

For details about this year’s program, please follow the link below:

2021 AIA Hong Kong Honors and Awards Program – Entry Form

Submission deadline: Tuesday, August 31, 2021 | 17:00 (HKT)

Should you have any questions, please send your inquiry to: info@aiahk.org or call the Chapter Office at 2882 6011.

We look forward to seeing all your wonderful submissions!

Yours sincerely,

Honors and Awards Committee
AIA Hong Kong

Smart Project Delivery & Documentation Automation | May 18, 2021

Dear Members

Sustainable design and the impact that buildings and the construction industry have on the environment and climate change are of increasing importance worldwide. As architects, we have a shared responsibility to develop our cities without negatively impacting the use of resources and energy, and by minimizing the production of waste.

How can BIM assist?

BIM ensures that architects have more control over every aspect of their projects, from the way that spaces are arranged and oriented to the selection of materials and the efficiency of construction systems. Once a Digital Twin, or Virtual Project, has been created it is easy to evaluate each project in the virtual environment before the actual construction takes place. We can thereby make a big difference on the impact of what we design by optimizing our projects in terms of reduced energy consumption, the use of recycled materials – where possible – proper access and orientation, and the minimization of waste by careful control of quantities.

You can use your smartphone, tablet or PC to join. Install the zoom.us application prior to the meeting.

1.   Please use your real name for registration so that we can credit 1.0 LU to you.
2.   All attendees should mute their audio during the presentation to avoid signal interference.
3.   On this occasion, only the host and panellists will be allowed to speak.
4.   You may, however, type questions in the Q&A box at the bottom of your zoom screen.
5.   The panellists will review your questions and provide responses, time allowing.
6.   The presentation will be recorded.

We encourage you to register in advance, here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_twvvYCUdQeiprTjd7-YSCw

Speaker’s Profile

Eugenio Fontan
•   Master in Architecture – UPM (Spain)
•   ARB Registered Architect
•   HKIBIM Member

Eugenio Fontan is currently based in Hong Kong and has more than 12 years of experience on different kinds of projects using BIM in combination with other technologies. He has practiced in Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia and is a Co-Founder of Enzyme APD, an international architecture and technology implementation firm. Currently with GRAPHISOFT, Eugenio utilizes BIM software to increase architects’ productivity and efficiency on a consultancy basis.

From Concept to Reality: Yi Pei Square Playground Tour | May 15, 2021

Dear Members,

AIA Hong Kong is pleased to host a tour to Yi Pei Square Playground park, recently launched by Design Trust Futures Studio and other collaborators and stakeholders in the community.

Yi Pei Square Playground is a testament to Design Trust’s continuous and dedicated efforts in bringing together the local communities and other stakeholders from both private and public sectors to transform the unique concepts by cross-disciplinary design experts into meaningful outcomes that impact society or public spaces in Hong Kong. The Park explores the idea of creating a “communal living room” within a densely populated residential area in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, that is surrounded by subdivided flats, suitable for residents of all ages. The design of the space incorporated the residents’ needs researched through a series of public engagement and workshops, facilitating multi-generational interactions for residents. The public space allows the public to enjoy the inclusive and custom-made play equipment, dedicated leisure and activities zones for different users as well as the specially designed graphics and floor patterns. More details on the park here: https://designtrust.hk/newsletter/yi-pei-square-playground-tsuen-wan/

In this tour, Marisa Yiu, AIA, co-founder and Executive Director of Design Trust will share and discuss the collaborative process involved and her devotion to the positive values of design in the role for shaping a better Hong Kong and the region we live in. Please RSVP (rsvp@aiahk.org) with your full name and membership number by 5:00pm on Thursday May 13, 2021 and, if you have any questions, contact the Chapter office at rsvp@aiahk.org / 2882-6011.

Tour Date May 15, 2021 – Saturday
Time 1:30pm – 3:30pm
Location Yi Pei Square Playground, Tsuen Wan (Sha Tsui Road / Chuen Lung Street)
Fee HK$100

About the Speaker

Marisa Yiu, AIA
Co-Founder, Executive Director | DESIGN TRUST | HK
Founding Partner | ESKYIU | HK

MARISA YIU is the Co-founder and Executive Director of DESIGN TRUST, an initiative of Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design, which is a registered charity founded in 2007. DESIGN TRUST encourages and supports creative research initiatives related to Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, within an international context. She has been instrumental in shaping the growth of this NGO since 2014, and spearheaded the Design Trust Futures Studio program in 2017. Yiu is also a practicing architect and Founding Partner of ESKYIU, an award winning, multi-disciplinary architectural design and research studio that actively integrates culture, community, art and technology into their projects, from their base in Hong Kong.

Curating Architecture as Knowledge Production | May 13, 2021

Dear Members

We often think about contemporary architecture in terms of its immediate impact, its hardware or software, plain or covert political objectives and so on. It is only when we have a bit of distance that we can then talk about its contribution to Architecture, vis-à-vis the works’ impact on the profession, on a city’s image, so on and so forth.

In Curating Architecture as Knowledge Production, Shirley Surya will discuss her work on curating Architecture as a geographically specific yet transnational design and historical project. We will be treated to her perspective on collecting architectural works as points for introspection, conjectures, and perhaps even validation – and just in time as Hong Kong gains new narratives through the M+ Design and Architecture collection.

You can use your smartphone, tablet or PC to join. Install the zoom.us application prior to the meeting.

1.   Please use your real name for registration so that we can credit 2.0 LUs to you.
2.   All attendees should mute their audio during the presentation to avoid signal interference.
3.   On this occasion, only the host and panellists will be allowed to speak.
4.   You may, however, type questions in the Q&A box at the bottom of your zoom screen.
5.   The panellists will review your questions and provide responses, time allowing.
6.   The presentation will be recorded.

We encourage you to register in advance, here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NC0k4nzfSJSe83ydmvk4Kw

The four exhibitions covered under this talk may be viewed via the links below:

[Yung Ho Chang + FCJZ: Material-ism (UCCA, Beijing, 2012)]
https://ucca.org.cn/en/exhibition/yung-ho-chang-fcjz-material-ism//

[Building M+ The museum and architecture collection (ArtisTree, Hong Kong, 2014)]
https://www.westkowloon.hk/en/whats-on/past-events/building-m-the-museum-and-architecture-collection/chapter/multimedia-199

[Incomplete urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice (NTU CCA, Singapore, 2016)]
ntu.ccasingapore.org/exhibition/incomplete-urbanism-attempts-of-critical-spatial-practice

[In Search of Southeast Asia through M+ Collections (M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong, 2018)]
https://www.westkowloon.hk/en/insearchofsea/in-search-of-southeast-asia-through-the-m-collections

Speaker’s Profile

Shirley Surya is the Curator for Design and Architecture at M+, the new museum for visual culture in Hong Kong which will open at the end of 2021.

Since 2012, Shirley has contributed to building the M+ Collections through her research on design and architectural production in greater China and Southeast Asia. She co-curated Building M+: The Museum & Architecture Collection (2014), NEONSIGNS.HK (2014), In Search of Southeast Asia through the M+ Collections (2018) and the museum’s opening displays that will focus on Hong Kong and key narratives from the Design and Architecture collection.

Shirley received her BA in Media Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and her MA in History of Design from the Royal College of Art in London.

1st Quarterly Meeting 2021 + Urban Spectre-Memories and Spatial History in Hong Kong Cinema | May 6, 2021

AIA Hong Kong 1^st Quarterly Meeting – 2021
+
Urban Spectre – Memories and Spatial History in Hong Kong Cinema

Date	May 6th 2021 –Thursday
Time	1^st Quarterly Meeting 7:00 – 7:30pm
	Urban Spectre 7:30 – 9:00pm
Credit	1.5 LUs/HSW
Format	Zoom Webinar
Gratis

About the Event: Urban Spectre – Memories and Spatial History in Hong Kong Cinema

After the 1st Quarterly Meeting, this webinar will consider how the spatial history of our city is like a ghost that still lingers within Hong Kong films.

We will revisit different kinds of living spaces – both the physical spaces themselves and via topophilia, or “the sense of place”, as seen through the lens of Hong Kong cinema and with reference to a new book by Dr. Esther MK Cheung.

Featured Movies
1. Made in Hong Kong 香港制造 (1997)
2. The Longest Summer 去年煙花特別多 (1998)
3. Little Cheung 細路祥 (1999)
4. Young and Dangerous film series 古惑仔系列 (1995-2000)
5. Port of Call 踏血尋梅 (2015)
6. Weeds on Fire 點五步 (2016)
7. A Mad World 一念無明 (2016)
8. Beyond the Dream 幻愛 (2019)
9. Still Human 淪落人 (2018)
10. One Second Champion 一秒拳王 (2020)

You can use your smartphone, tablet or PC to join. Install the zoom.us application prior to the meeting.

1.   Please use your real name for registration so that we can credit 1.5 LUs/HSW to you.
2.   All attendees should mute their audio during the presentation to avoid signal interference.
3.   On this occasion, only the host and panellists will be allowed to speak.
4.   You may, however, type questions in the Q&A box at the bottom of your zoom screen.
5.   The panellists will review your questions and provide responses, time allowing.
6.   The presentation will be recorded.

We encourage you to register in advance, here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Cy66YkLhTH2RWl-Sn3PrOg

Speakers

Siu Heng

Siu Heng is a veteran arts administrator and communications professional. He has worked for various educational and cultural institutions, organizing and promoting arts, cultural programmes and film festivals. Having started his own company in 2014, he has continued to serve Hong Kong’s creative sectors as an experienced editor and translator, and has recently translated a book on Hong Kong cinema study.

Siu Heng holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature and Translation, and an M.A. in Literary and Cultural Studies from the University of Hong Kong, and has been a member of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society since 2006.

Alfred S. H. Ho

Alfred Ho is a Hong Kong architect and urban researcher who graduated from the University of Hong Kong and subsequently obtained his Master’s Degree in Architecture from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. He has written on topics as varied as Hong Kong consumer culture and consumption, housing, conservation, and urban development. Alfred set up Urban Studies Institute Limited as a charitable institution in late 2017 for urban research, conservation initiatives, architecture and community design in Hong Kong.

He is currently establishing the Hong Kong Property Brochure Archive as an online historical and research database for private housing in Hong Kong from the 1960s to 2010 and onwards.

Moderators

Fei Mui, AIA

Chang Su, AIA

This webinar will be moderated by 2021 AIA Hong Kong Programs Co-chairs Fei Mui, AIA, and Chang Su, AIA.

AIA Hong Kong – March 2021 Newsletter

AIA 2021 – Serve & Inspire

Dear Members and Friends

With Spring well underway, we have made some headway on several initiatives this year. This newsletter is a brief update ahead of our First Quarterly Meeting next month, date to be announced in an upcoming EDM.

for young members and aspiring architects

PATH TO LICENSURE

We kicked off the year with our Becoming an Architect webinar, when our Young Architect’s Group (YAG) chair, Hinki Kwong, spoke to 57 students from The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Chu Hai College of Higher Education and City University of Hong Kong on becoming US licensed architects. The presentation was followed by a discussion with Su Chang, Dennis Cheung and Josely Lam on their experiences of M. Arch programs in the US. The Q&A session was particularly lively as the three speakers had graduated from local undergraduate programs themselves and could relate well to our audience.

Many students showed keen interest in pursuing professional development and registration in the US and this has even sparked interest in renewals in our student membership category.

MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

From this group of students, we were able to launch the YAG mentorship program with an inaugural batch of 70 mentees and 15 mentors. Hinki Kwong led the hour-long icebreaker where mentors and mentees got to ‘mingle’ in a virtual landscape. Many thanks to our mentors for heeding our call to serve, and we look forward to hearing more as the program progresses this year.

for all

WEBINARS

LEARNING FROM BISHOP HILL

The 2-hour long webinar attracted 2,000 viewers across various social platforms and is currently the most-watched video in AIA Hong Kong’s history. The webinar gave a detailed breakdown of the architectural and structural quality of Bishop Hill. Heritage leaders shared their insights on how old buildings are being evaluated, in Hong Kong and overseas, on both their cultural and architectural merit. The presentation also addressed many questions about the complicated process of heritage assessment and showed a potential future for the protection of Bishop Hill as part of the water supply infrastructure in Kowloon.

TECHNICAL WORKSHOP SERIES:

INTUITIVE BIM FOR ARCHITECTS WITH GRAPHISOFT

As part of our technical workshop series, Eugenio Fontan from Graphisoft shared insights on the latest BIM trends and best practices. For those who missed this primer, the recording will be made available on our YouTube channel. Eugenio was back on March 23rd and 25th with two deep-dive workshops on “sustainable project development” and “BIM in 100 clicks,” respectively, for anyone who was interested in energy modeling and learning more about Archicad – and two more sessions are scheduled for May. Hopefully, at least one of these can take place at our PMQ Chapter Office. Again, we are using a Doodle survey after the March sessions where you can tell us what you’d like to learn by casting your vote on a topic of interest – so make sure you stay until the end and let us know!

Separately, we are excited to advise that Autodesk has joined our Corporate Affiliate program. We are working with their team for BIM training sessions and webinars on several URA heritage case studies (Central Market and the Shanghai Street Project), artificial intelligence and generative design.

FIRST PROJECTS WITH PAUL TSE AND EVELYN TING

Paul and Evelyn from New Office Works (NOW) kicked off the First Projects series with a candid account of their journey from school to practice. If you have visited the Growing Up pavilion, the office’s winning entry in the Hong Kong Young Architects & Designers Competition, you will have appreciated this talk as the duo retraced the development of their ideas and design vocabularies through a balance of research, competition and commissioned work.

We found the “Middle Man Hong Kong” video essays a particularly inspiring example of self-initiated projects that are just as important to forming a practice as paid commissions. Supported by Design Trust, the video essays take a fresh look at Hong Kong’s urbanity through the lens of architecture, offering key takeaways that underline the studio’s approach to their later work.

BUILDING TOUR at the STATE THEATRE

A warm thank you to Jeff Tung and Winnie Yeung of New World Development for giving us a stellar tour of the State Theatre on King’s Road. Winnie and Jeff reanimated the building and the neighborhood’s transformation over the last 70 years, virtually peeling off layers of the facade in the internal arcade as we went back in time from the retail outlets and billiards halls of the 1990s to its glorious origins as a premier theatre destination in the late ’50s. The project is scheduled to reopen in 2026, and we will arrange several more tours between now and then, so do stay tuned.

Due to the recurring spike/s in COVID numbers, however, EXCO has decided to take precautionary measures and postpone physical gatherings in the month of April during which time the Programs Committee will review the touring capacity of our proposed venue list. Conditions permitting, our goal is to begin reintroducing building tours in small groups of 4, starting in May.

COMMUNICATIONS

Welcome Ivan Mak, who has joined our Communications Committee and will be managing the Chapter’s LinkedIn Account. Together with Catherine Kao on Instagram, Scott Brooks, our Communications Committee Chair, and Peter Basmajian as our copy-editor, I think we are in good hands to tell the stories we have to share this year!

CHAPTER OFFICE UPGRADES

Last but not least, to better serve our membership and to enable greater participation in the broader community and, possibly, from other regions in the near future, we have embarked on three important IT upgrades, including a centralized, searchable communication channel for all committees, cloud accounting, and modernization of our website infrastructure. Many thanks to Chapter secretary Sung Won Lee for leading these efforts on Microsoft Teams for committee work, our Treasurer, Caroline Chou, for working with Fresh Accounting on Xero, and our office manager, Clare Huang, for implementing these updates!

AIA Hong Kong Mentorship Program 2021: Call for Mentors

Dear Members,

AIA Hong Kong Chapter is going to launch a mentorship program for students, and we are now seeking both young and seasoned members to volunteer as mentors!

What you will need to do as a mentor: