Since its establishment in 2014, Design Trust has been offering grants to individual designers, curators, collectives as well as non-profit organisations, supporting over 210 research projects supported by Seed Grants and Feature Grants. To continue advocating for the positive role of design facing the ever-changing context of urgent topics, Design Trust is pleased to announce the 2025 theme “Transforming Boundaries” for the upcoming grants cycle of April 20th and October 20th 2025 for applications for Design Trust Seed Grant and Feature Grant examining innovative, thought-provoking investigations in various design disciplines including but not limited to graphics, media, wearables, architecture to the built environment, as well as focused research on design’s multi-disciplinarity and impact-driven purpose. Share with us your ideas and proposals by April 20th 2025!
Design Trust 2025 April Call for Grants under Theme “Transforming Boundaries” | Design Trust Grants and Initiatives to be Featured at 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
15. 4. 2025
Design Trust offers grants to individual designers, curators, collectives and non-profit organisations for projects and activities that are relevant to various design disciplines. These grants support projects relevant to the context and content of Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. Cities within the Greater Bay Area include: the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao, and the nine municipalities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing in Guangdong Province. We support innovative, thought-provoking investigations in various design disciplines from graphics, media, wearables, architecture to the built environment; and actively aim to accelerate creative design and research development of meaningful projects. These projects include but are not limited to: talks, exhibitions, residencies, research projects and creative installations.
DESIGN TRUST SEED GRANT fosters a culture of experimentation, testing and sharing. It is awarded to individuals seeking to kick-start a meaningful and intellectual project with social, educational, economical or environmental impact for communities. Seed Grants may support applicants who have a project in the pipeline that needs additional resources, as well as emerging designers, and young scholars. Design Trust highly encourages applicants from the region to international applicants to apply for this grant to support their research projects and prototypes focusing on Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area issues to be showcased at international venues, symposium or international biennales.
DESIGN TRUST FEATURE GRANT fosters cross-disciplinary projects focusing on the Greater Bay Area region. Projects awarded have a wide reaching audience and may be sited in an exhibition or biennale venue with international recognition and standing. This grant supports international exchanges between a Hong Kong/ China based collective with an international renowned cultural institution, as well as research efforts on Hong Kong and regional modern and contemporary architectural design archives. It aims to excel, share and build new knowledge and unique positions on the value of design, critical research and provocative outcome.
We are also excited to share that a series of Design Trust grant projects and Design Trust Futures Studio Micro-park initiative will be featured in the upcoming “Projecting Future Heritage: A Hong Kong Archive” at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. As one of the eleven collateral events, “Projecting Future Heritage: A Hong Kong Archive” is curated by Design Trust Feature Grant recipients Ying Zhou and Fai Au, together with Sunnie Lau. A wide range of Design Trust grant research projects including “Hong Kong Estate Centres as Public Amenity” by Jeffery Cheng and Kris Provoost, “Photovoltaic Hybrids: Hong Kong’s Experiment on Climate-Responsive Architecture” by Emily Po and Quentin Yiu, “Social Condenser Extraordinaire: the Municipal Services Buildings of Hong Kong” by Ying and Fai, will be presented at the exhibition, with creative contribution from Design Trust grantees including Charlotte Lafont-Hugo, Architecture Land Initiative, Su Chang, Natasza Minasiewicz and many more. A special display of the creative collaboration journey of Design Trust Futures Studio Micro-park initiative will also be presented at the Arsenale site.
The 19th International Architecture Exhibition, titled “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.”, curated by Carlo Ratti and organised by La Biennale di Venezia, will open to the public from Saturday May 10 to Sunday November 23, 2025, at the Giardini, the Arsenale and at the Forte Marghera.
Responding the theme of the Biennale Architettura 2025, curated by Carlo Ratti, “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective”, a series of Panel Talks at the Hong Kong Exhibition “Projecting Future Heritage: A Hong Kong Archive” at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2025, co-curated by Ying Zhou and Fai Au (Design Trust Feature Grant Recipient) and Sunnie S.Y. Lau, will highlight the collective intelligens of Hong Kong’s public infrastructures that represents Hong Kong city’s shifting paradigm.
Thursday 8 May 2025
13:00-14:30 Forum Panel: Hong Kong’s Public Architectures
14:45-16:15 Forum Panel: Tropicality and Development
16:30-18:00 Forum Panel: Archiving of Architecture and Urbanism
Friday 9 May 2025
15:30-17:00 Forum Panel Bamboo: Method not only Form