Design Trust Grant Spotlight

20. 9. 2022

Design Trust is pleased to share selected grant projects, including publication and exhibition in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. Highlights include ‘’Take a Seat - Hong Kong Estate Centres Architecture as Public Amenity Exhibition” by Jeffrey Cheng, Kris Provoost and Don Hong; publication project Viscose Journal Issue 3 “ASIAS” by Jeppe Ugelvig and research project “The Morphing Origin: Nantou” by He Liu, Zuo Long. We are also pleased to share the upcoming exhibition ‘Thank you, next: The heritage of disappearance in Hong Kong’s architecture’ by Natasza Minasiewicz in October 2022.

Design Trust Seed Grant ‘Take a Seat - Hong Kong Estate Centres Architecture as Public Amenity Exhibition’ by Jeffrey Cheng, Kris Provoost and Don Hong

Exhibition poster courtesy of Jeffrey Cheng and Kris Provoost.
Hong Kong Estate Centres [Photography: Kris Provoost. All rights reserved]
'Take a Seat - Hong Kong Estate Centres Architecture as Public Amenity Exhibition’

Take a Seat draws inspiration from and celebrates the architectural strategies on display in Hong Kong’s estate centres. The exhibition delves into the past 50 years of Hong Kong estate housing design, particularly estate commercial centres and their remarkable legacy of providing public amenity. As an important component of everyday life in public estate communities, those estate centres typically offer a bundle of public amenities including community hall, wet market, public service, sports facilities and integrated transit for public transportation. Built upon their extensive survey and research on over 150 estate centres from 1967 - 2005 in Hong Kong, the team reveals design strategies of public space in response to increasing program complexity, building technology development, and shifting notions of an ideal community hidden behind five architectural typologies of estate centres.

Design Trust Seed Grant ‘Viscose Journal Issue 3 ASIAS’ by Jeppe Ugelvig

Images courtesy of Jeppe Ugelvig

Viscose Journal Issue 3 “ASIAS” has connected fashion producers and thinkers from all over the world, to think about the importance of this region in fashion discourse. Focusing on the regions bordering the South China Sea, with contributors from over 10 countries as well as their global diasporas, the issue contests the idea of Asia as a singular idea, image, and even place, instead engendering an array of “Asias” that are employed symbolically, economically and socially across fashion’s frenzied systems. Led by the curator Jeppe Ugelvig with a team of collaborators from different backgrounds, the groundbreaking fan-shaped magazine has been successfully launched globally including Seoul, Tokyo, London, Berlin and New York, and was featured recently at the 2022 abC Art Book Fair in Beijing.

Design Trust Seed Grant ‘The Morphing Origin: Nantou’ by He Liu and Zuo Long

Axonometric study of Nantou City Regeneration, Phase I, 2020. Image by He Liu and Long Zuo.
Exhibition Nantou Odyssey [Photography: Zhang Chao. All rights reserved]

“The Morphing Origin: Nantou” constructs a critical survey of the live transformation taking place at Nantou Old Town, the sui generis sample of a living historical origin for Shenzhen and other cities in the Greater Bay Area region. While noted by its status as the administrative center of the vast Dongguan Province for centuries, the 3.5 sq. km walled city Nantou has also evolved into a densely populated urban village with more than 30,000 residents. The constant state of evolution marks it as an intriguing, contested site for investigations on urban regeneration at different scales.

By mapping design interventions and social dynamics with analytical documentation as a rare case of urban morphology, Design Trust grantees He Liu and Zuo Long have archived sixteen design proposals for the self-built ‘village’ buildings designed by MVRDV, Atelier FCJZ, URBANUS, PAO, among others, capturing the fast-developing high-profile urban regeneration processes. The research has informed the exhibition “Nantou Odyssey”curated by grantee He Liu that opened in August 2020 in Nantou, Shenzhen, creating a dialogue with a wider audience on the past and future of Nantou. The exhibition is now on view until 30 December 2022 at the Info Center of Nantou Old Town (2 Zhongshan West Road), Shenzhen.

Design Trust Seed Grant exhibition ‘Thank you, next: The heritage of disappearance in Hong Kong’s architecture’ by Natasza Minasiewicz to open in October

Exhibition Poster Thank you, next: The heritage of disappearance in Hong Kong’s architecture.

‘Thank you, next’ provides an alternative set of references to the heritage of the built and natural environment and a note on Hong Kong’s persistent self-erasure. Formatted as a series of published articles, photography, conversations, material applications and sculptural objects, it investigates the city’s modern architectural language together with its atmospheric condition, through materiality, geometries, urban forms and historical narratives. Located in a building scheduled for demolition by the end of the year, this exhibition invites designers and the wider community to discuss the meaning of heritage in the context of the city’s contemporary condition. The exhibition will take place from Thursday, October 20 to Sunday, November 6, 2022. Stay tuned for more details.