Upcoming and ongoing Design Trust grantees exhibition and programmes including Design Trust Feature Grant research exhibition “Recollection: Tao Ho” at Hong Kong Arts Centre by Charles Lai, Design Trust Seed Grant design research “Public Parasols: Stories of Shade in Subtropical Hong Kong” by Chang Su exhibited at Taiwan Design Research Institute, Design Trust Seed Grant research “Scaffold and Memory: Bamboo and the Disappearing City” by Raffaella Endrizzi presented at the UN World Urban Forum in Baku and the UIA World Congress of Architects in Barcelona, along with Design Trust Futures Studio programmes and Design Trust grantee alumni’s works featured at the exhibition “Well-being in the City”at the Casa de la Arquitectura in Madrid, featured regionally and internationally.
Design Trust Upcoming Grants & Programmes Highlights | May – July 2026
8. 5. 2026
Hong Kong
May 21st – 25th
Design Trust Feature Grant research exhibition “Recollection: Tao Ho” by Charles Lai will take place at Hong Kong Arts Centre from May 21st to 25th with a series of tours and talks. Charles has been researching a vast collection of the late Sir Tao Ho's previously unpublished design manuscripts, photographs, and archival materials, which offers a glimpse into Tao Ho's intricate life, interwoven with the development of Hong Kong's architecture, art, and cultural scene, documenting a pivotal chapter in the city's history, and a comprehensive understanding of Tao Ho for the general audience, young architects and designers. The research portrays Tao Ho's persona and philosophies by studying these diverse materials while further enriching the academic discourse surrounding his intellectual contributions and architectural oeuvre, exploring under-researched connections with regional and international architectural movements.
“Recollection: Tao Ho” Exhibition
Dates: 21st May (Thu) – 25th May (Mon) 2026
Venue: Pao Galleries (5/F) & Experimental Gallery (3/F), Hong Kong Arts Centre
Curator’s Tours (in Cantonese) Registration
May 23 (Sat), 2026
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Tour 1); 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Tour 2)
May 24 (Sun), 2026
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Tour 3); 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Tour 4)
May 25 (Mon), 2026
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Tour 5); 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM (Tour 6)
Madrid
April 23rd – September 20th
“Well-being in the City” Exhibition curated by Izaskun Chinchilla, is currently on display at the Casa de la Arquitectura in Madrid until September 20th, 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. Rather than defining it as a set of indicators (life expectancy, prevalence of obesity or diabetes) or the provision of services, the exhibition approaches it as a relational condition, dependent on the quality of interactions between bodies, communities and environments. At its conceptual core lies the Quechua term Sumak Kawsay -Good Living-, which integrates material, biological, social and ecological dimensions on the same plane.
The exhibition establishes a dialogue with other cultural traditions - such as ikigai, dharma or Gaki Pelzom- to challenge Western models centered on growth and quantification. The existence of these ancestral forms of wisdom has led us to look to Asia and Latin America, as well as Europe, when selecting the case studies for the exhibition. 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.
Shenzhen
March 29th – May 31st
Design Trust Feature Grant research exhibition “ Journeys of Delta Objects” by Mary Ann O'Donnell is current on display at Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning until May 31st. The exhibition invites visitors to rethink the relationship between logistics and daily life in the context of the Greater Bay Area, highlighting how Shenzhen is shaped by flows and geography, and how people come to know the city and world through logistics. The exhibition and archive presents the five logistics stories, including beverage distribution, tools of hairdressers, market trolley, digital delivery platform and logistics of local agricultural products, through text, images, and video, documenting research processes and findings. Design Trust Seed Grant recipients Sun Yanyu and Nicolas Penna’s ongoing research on the trolley logistics at the Shenzhen Huangqiangbei Electronic Market is also presented at the exhibition.
Taipei
June 2026
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) in June 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 prototype is currently exhibited at “A Temporary Exhibition of Temporal Public Spaces” at the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Frances Loeb Library until May 17th, and will travel to Taipei for another phase of exhibition and engagement with the Asian context. More on the current exhibition at Harvard GSD via the link.
Barcelona
June 28th – July 2nd
Design Trust Seed Grant research “Scaffold and Memory: Bamboo and the Disappearing City” by Raffaella Endrizzi will be presented at the UIA World Congress of Architects in Barcelona as part of the “Local Learning Studio” programme. The research project captures how bamboo structures veil and reveals the city—symbolizing impermanence, craftsmanship, and transformation. Interviews and portraits of Sifus (master scaffolders) and semi-skilled workers preserve lived knowledge passed down through generations, offering insight into the challenges of sustaining traditional practices in a rapidly modernizing city. The research also investigates the sources and types of bamboo used, fluctuations in pricing and supply, and how these material flows reflect broader regional exchange systems. A special documentary film of the research findings will be presented at the “Local Learning Studio” at the UIA World Congress of Architects in Barcelona from June 28th to July 2nd .