Design Trust in the News and Upcoming Grants & Programmes Highlights | July – September 2026

Upcoming and ongoing Design Trust grantees exhibition and programmes including Design Trust Feature Grant research publication “Plugin House” by People’s Architecture Office presented at the exhibition “Plugin Stories” at Yulin Song Project Space host by Liu Jiakun in Chengdu; Design Trust Seed Grant design research “Public Parasols: Stories of Shade in Subtropical Hong Kong” by Chang Su exhibited at Taiwan Design Research Institute; and ongoing exhibition “Well-being in the City”at the Casa de la Arquitectura in Madrid.

Chengdu

Ongoing until July 12^th

Design Trust Feature Grant research publication “Plugin House” by People’s Architecture Office (PAO) presented at the exhibition “Plugin Stories” at Yulin Song Project Space host by Liu Jiakun in Chengdu currently on display until July 12^th 2026. The exhibition focuses on PAO's exploration in the field of plug-in architecture, demonstrating how this prefabricated building system can flexibly intervene in different cities in China and the United States. Through a review of more than a decade of Plugin projects, the exhibition presents a perspective that helps clarify the fundamental and common issues behind the global housing crisis, find common ground in this universal urban issue that transcends sociopolitical differences, and accumulate new insights through trial and error and innovation. The exhibition will travel to Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture and display from July 25^th to September 5^th.

Madrid
April 23^rd – September 20^th

“Well-being in the City” Exhibition curated by Izaskun Chinchilla, is currently on display at the Casa de la Arquitectura in Madrid until September 20^th, featuring Design Trust Futures Studio Micro-parks Portland Street Rest Garden, Sitting-out Areas under Flyover in Hill Road, Design Trust Futures Studio “Heritage is Creative Generation” Chinese Zodiac design project; alongside Design Trust Seed Grant design research protypes “Your Greenhouse Is Your Kitchen Is Your Living Room” by Leyuan Li, “Blue Water Catcher” by Francis Lam and Etain Ho, as well as design projects from Design Trust former grantees including Chang Su, People’s Architecture Office. The exhibition is conceived as a critical framework that re-examines the foundations upon which urban well-being has historically been built. The Scientific Committee of the selection process is chaired by former Design Trust Feature Grant recipient Marina Otera Verzier, and joined by Design Trust Lead Curator Marisa Yiu. Through a cross-border global survey,  “well-being” is understood as the sustainability of the relationships that make everyday life possible, allowing us to reinterpret the city not as a functional system, but as an infrastructure that supports life cycles. More information here.

Taipei

August 11^th   – October 4^th  

Design Trust Seed Grant design research “Public Parasols: Stories of Shade in Subtropical Hong Kong” by Chang Su, will be exhibited at Taiwan Design Research Institute(TDRI) from August 10^th - October 10^th 2026. The design research explores how ethnographic research on the building cultures of Hong Kong fishing villages can inspire enhanced design approaches for shared spaces, as well as the in-between areas in high-density, subtropical Asian communities, with a prototype design of public space shading device. The design research was previously exhibited at the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Frances Loeb Library, and will continue the showcase across Asia.

We also invite you to mark your calendar for the upcoming Design Trust grants programmes in the upcoming Fall:

Hong Kong, October 2026

Design Trust Feature Grant research publication and exhibition “Villa Moderne: In search of Hong Kong Post-war Modern Homes” led by Alex Yuen will be launched in October 2026.

Hong Kong, November 2026

Design Trust Impact Grant initiatives Inter-island Festival 2026 and Open House Hong Kong 2026 will return in November 2026 to activate the urban and natural landscape across Hong Kong.

London, November 2026

The inaugural Design Trust Fellowship at V&A East fellows Sian Fan, and Adam Huxley-Khng and Jimin Jeon, will present their Creative Commission installation works and research documentation at V&A East, London in November 2026 till April 2027.

Design Trust is delighted to share a series of latest news article and coverage featuring our programmes and community:

ArchDaily, “Curatorial Work as City-Making: Design Trust’s Marisa Yiu on Exhibitions and Spatial Agency”, by Jonathan Yeung. (Read here)

Wallpaper* China, “From Windowscape to History: re-examining the Central of Hong Kong”, by Claire Yunqi Huang. (Read here)

GQ Hong Kong, “City as Museum, Creative Geomancy and the Sectional Power of Architecture” (Chinese version), by Marisa Yiu.

koozArch, “Building Trust: learning from the M+ Design Trust Research Fellowship”, an interview of Marisa Yiu, Aric Chen, Shirley Surya and Ikko Yokoyama, edited and moderated by Federica Zambeletti. (Read here)

South China Morning Post, Design Trust Co-founder, Lead Curator/ Executive Director Marisa Yiu received on behalf of Design Trust “the Spirit of Culture Award” of the 13th Spirit of Hong Kong Awards. (Read here)

Harvard Design Magazine, “Living Well in an Uncertain World: The curators of “A Temporary Exhibition of Temporal Public Spaces” discuss emerging design practices in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Korea”, an interview of Yun Fu & Yona Chung by William Smith. (Read here)