About

Lead Curator’s Message

 
Marisa Yiu
Co-founder / Executive Director of Design Trust
(an initiative of the Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design)

“In bringing various communities together, both in the public and private sector, educational arena and across borders, I hope we can advance a spirit of generosity and dialogue within our region and internationally. We advocate for the positive values of design in the role for shaping a better city and region we live in. Our new flagship programme DESIGN TRUST FUTURES STUDIO is a pilot programme to explore and experiment with new ideas, exchanges and ultimately transform the individual and collective notion of how we participate in the production of a city.”

Design Trust Futures Studio

Design Trust Futures Studio is a new long-term flagship programme by Design Trust. Formatted as a series of workshops and design interventions, established international and local designers work closely with nominated emerging designers, helping them to showcase new ideas and works to the public.

Design Trust Futures Studio is a cross-disciplinary initiative created and conceptualized by Marisa Yiu, Co-founder and Executive Director of Design Trust. Experts in field will focus on future thinking with outcomes that are impactful to society or public space relating to Hong Kong and the Greater Pearl River Delta Region where design can make a positive contribution.

The 2017 inaugural theme is “SMALL IS MEANINGFUL”, focusing on concepts of smallness and sharing, the phenomenon of micro-housing and the future of micro-parks. The exploration and research will involve housing and parks in Hong Kong, examining how space is utilised. The programme will culminate in a series of new prototype micro-parks for Hong Kong.

As a dense city, Hong Kong faces space-related challenges and urban issues. Design Trust Futures Studio will examine the positive interactions that occur between our community in these small spaces; to explore the attributes of compactness that are worth celebrating.

Design Trust Futures Studio makes visible the invisible process of design. The creative process and development of the Mentor and Designer-Mentee’s projects will regularly be updated to the website.

Process

Design Trust Futures Studio works with international and Hong Kong-based Mentors. Each Mentor will be assigned a group of Designer-Mentees. The diverse and multidisciplinary Designer-Mentees were selected by a nominating committee and selection committee involving professionals, advisors and academics. The inaugural programme will include ten Hong Kong-based Designer-Mentees and two Designer-Mentees from the Pearl River Delta Region.

International and Hong Kong-based Advisors work alongside the Mentors and Designer-Mentees, offering guidance and practical solutions to help instigate the prototypes. 

Design Trust Futures Studio is presented in three core parts, beginning with an introductory workshop in March 2017 for participants to meet and brainstorm on the topic. From March to June, the groups will meet and work closely with the Mentors, attending workshops and field trips. For the second phase, Design Trust will collaborate with New York-based Storefront for Art and Architecture – an independent non-profit organization, on the first ever appearance of its International Series in Hong Kong. During the three-day event from 7th to 9th July, the groups will present their concepts in a public review. Finally, research findings, proposals and models will be exhibited in October, alongside a short documentary and an archive booklet.

Acknowledgement

Lead Organizer
Major Sponsor
International Event Collaborator
Exhibition Venue Partner
Workshop Venue Partner
Hotel Partner
Exhibition Opening Event Sponsor

 

Design Trust acknowledges and thanks the following Nominators for their support in the programme: Prof. Cees de Bont (Dean of School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University); Dr. Cole Roskam (Associate Professor of Architectural History and Theory, Department of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong); Prof. Leslie Lu (Principal of Hong Kong Design Institute); Marisa Yiu (Co-founder / Executive Director of Design Trust); Prof. Nasrine Seraji (Professor and Head of Department of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong); Prof. Nelson Chen (Director of School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong); Tat Lam (Founder & Chief Executive Officer, SZC Holdings Limited).

Design Trust would also like to acknowledge and thank the Selection & Endorsement Committee: Christopher Law (Founding Director of Oval Partnership); Prof. Ho Puay Peng (Head of Architecture of Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore); Dr. Lars Nittve (CEO and Chairman of Nittve Information).

Disclaimer:
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organizers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Communications and Creative Industries Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.

Quote

“Protecting public space is one of the most important things that architects should and could be involved in, because space is being progressively privatised and it’s very important to have these spaces of release where there is a public interest at stake. We need to be vigilant about this. I’m really glad you’re doing what you’re doing, because maybe if we can’t make another central park, we can make a hundred micro parks.”

Elizabeth Diller
International Workshop Mentor
Workshop highlights

Skip-Park Social Experiment

Sham Tseng Light Housing Visit

Exhibition Strategy Workshop

Exhibition Public Workshop II: In Dialogue with Smallness

Public Ideas Review

International Mentor Workshop

MobilePark Social Experiment

Sam Jacob Sketching Workshop

Exhibition

Part(k) of the City Social Experiment

Meta-crit Workshop with Elizabeth Diller

Exhibition Workshop I: Prototype Interactions

Concept Review Workshop