AIA Hong Kong

AIA Hong Kong – February President’s Message

Dear AIA HK Members and Friends,

I would like to take this opportunity to give you an update on some of the things the Chapter has been involved in over the last month.

In January we started the year with a Kick Off Party at Ping Pong, a trendy bar in Sai Ying Pun, well attended by members and Corporate Affiliates (CAs), along with potential new members and CAs. It was great to see continued support from the members and friends of AIA Hong Kong. We then had our first building tour to JCCAC and the SCAD, both of which are adaptively reused buildings within Sham Shui Po district.

The Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) is a successful repurposing of an old factory building, providing affordable space for artists and the community. It forms a great venue for nurturing the creative and performing arts, catering to the needs of the people of Hong Kong.

The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a great example of high quality adaptive reuse of the old North Kowloon Magistracy as a place for teaching the arts and design, including fashion, graphics and interiors. The architecture and the building have been brought to life by good design and sensitive use of materials with attention to detail. The display of students’ works of art further enriches the space and provides a great place to learn and excel. The SCAD may be a venue for a future AIA Hong Kong quarterly event, so members who may have missed this fascinating tour are likely to have another chance.

This month we will have our second tour, on the morning of Saturday, February 28, to the Central Police Station (CPS), another important heritage site and is scheduled to be open by mid-2016. This should be a very informative tour, but there are only limited seats left so please register soon.

We will then be hosting a tour of PMQ in March 2015, along with our first Quarterly, following this year’s theme of “Architecture and Cities”. The Quarterly will be on the “Cultural Triangle”, providing a platform to discuss how PMQ, CPS and the Central Market can come together to create a Cultural Precinct in Central.

We will also be hosting the Young Architects Group (YAG) inaugural cocktails, and perhaps co-organizing events with RIBA and other organizations soon. Stay tuned.

Finally, the national Grassroots conference will be held in Washington DC from March 4-6, 2015, which will be an opportunity for several members of AIA Hong Kong to re-connect with AIA National leadership.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all A Very Happy Chinese New Year! Have a wonderful celebration with family and friends and a Successful, Healthy, and Prosperous Year of the Goat!

Sujata S. Govada, PhD, Assoc. AIA, AICP, HKIUD, HKIP, LEED AP

2015 President, AIA Hong Kong Chapter

1 thought on “AIA Hong Kong – February President’s Message”

  1. Dear Sujata,
    Thanks so much again for arranging and joining us for the Sham Shui Po tour. It was an enthralling and very edifying experience to learn more of my home town’s rare heritage, all in excellent company.
    Wishing you and AIA-HK a very peaceful, prosperous Year of the Goat!
    Kind regards,
    Nigel Reading RIBA-HK Chapter Founding Member
    Asynsis.com

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