4 Exchanges on a Hyper Specific Architectural Biotope

“4 Exchanges on a Hyper Specific Architectural Biotope” relates to Hong Kong’s uniqueness as an architecture and design environment. In essence open to the world, yet strongly driven by local singularities in the way it approaches architecture, Hong Kong generates its very own language and processes giving shape to its built environment. 

“4 Exchanges on a Hyper Specific Architectural Biotope” relates to Hong Kong’s uniqueness as an architecture and design environment. In essence open to the world, yet strongly driven by local singularities in the way it approaches architecture, Hong Kong generates its very own language and processes giving shape to its built environment. 

 

4 thematic discussions between the parties involved in 4 built projects, aim to offer a holistic comprehension of this phenomenon by decoding its milieu, history, morphologies, typologies, regulations, market and construction and their significant influence on the final production. 

 

The resulting body of work, not envisioned as criticism but rather a careful deconstruction of interrelated facts, aspires to foster an exchange on “why and how” things are done, at the same time bringing cultural and material “sustainability”, to the centre of the debate on architecture and urban design.

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2023
Grantee: Charlotte Lafont-Hugo

Charlotte Lafont-Hugo (1985) is a Hong Kong based French architect graduated with honours from ULB, Faculty of Architecture La Cambre-Horta in Brussels in 2011.

 

She co-founded her office, BEAU Architects with her husband, Gilles Vanderstocken, in 2014.

Her most recent work includes the Kiang Malingue Galleries in Hong Kong (2022) and Shanghai (2016), the scenography for Cao Fei: Staging the Era in UCCA Beijing (2020) and the “Oasis Project”, the revitalisation of Tai Kwun Contemporary outdoor spaces (2021).

 

For the last years, she has been regularly invited as critic and speaker at numerous universities along her role as tutor at HKU SPACE and City University of Hong Kong where she conducted design studio and Master in Urban Design studio. Since 2022, she led, together with Gilles Vanderstocken, a M.Arch studio on adaptive reuse at the University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Architecture.