Homes of the future in mind at Business of Design Week 2021 in Hong Kong, with pandemic having brought the issue into sharper focus
- Designers Steve Leung, Freeman Lau and Tino Kwan will discuss at Business of Design Week in Hong Kong how the pandemic has changed thinking about future homes
- For moderator Clover Lee, the pandemic has accelerated the democratisation of design, with homeowners becoming active participants because of social media
When interior designer Steve Leung was asked to host a panel discussion at the 2021 Business of Design Week (BODW) in Hong Kong, his thoughts turned to another event: the International Design Carnival in Guangzhou, to be held in late 2022 after being postponed by the pandemic.
Along with two other Hong Kong designers, Freeman Lau and Tino Kwan, Leung will explore how urban dwellings will adapt to new lifestyles and technological realities in the coming years.
“We have been pondering and exploring the infinite possibilities of future homes since 2019,” he says. Since then, Covid-19 and endless months of restrictions – which saw many work and study from home – have given the topic an even sharper focus.
Leung says the pandemic is a prompt to “rethink our living spaces, particularly their multifunctionality and [in light of] increased concerns towards hygiene standards”. That inspired him to assemble a team to chat about those possibilities at BODW, in a session titled “Rewriting the Blueprint of Future Homes”, to be streamed online on December 3.
Leung, Lau and Kwan will take the stage alongside moderator Clover Lee, an architect and principal of Hong Kong design firm plusClover. “The three of them being masters, having been in the business for that long, I think it’s interesting that they’re taking the lead in opening up this conversation,” she says.
“I’d really like to know more about how they see themselves in that role. And to see what the other opportunities are to be more inclusive, to include the younger generation in the conversation.”
The wall art is as photogenic as the food in some Hong Kong restaurants
Lee says the pandemic has accelerated an existing move towards the democratisation of design. She has noticed that, compared to the past, homeowners are now more likely to play an active role in the design of their living spaces.
“Design is traditionally either a service you provide or a product you make, and then there’s the consumer, but that division has really collapsed. Consumers are participating more in design,” she says.
The rise of social media has added another layer, with private living spaces being showcased on YouTube and Instagram, bringing an unprecedented level of attention to interior design and architecture. “Everybody can be a critic, everybody can have an opinion, and how does that shape us as architects?” Lee asks. “It collapses the distance between people who are actually designing and the consumers.”
Kwan, who specialises in lighting design, notes that over the course of the pandemic, designers have increasingly turned to residential interiors because business for hospitality projects like hotels and restaurants has dried up. “People are investing more in their own homes,” he says.
“Design is having a special momentum now,” adds Leung. “More people are looking into including dedicated workspaces in their homes, or even replacing their traditional office settings. For Hong Kong designers, this presents new opportunities to change the narrative about traditional working habits and experience by creating flexible and multipurpose residential environs.”
At the same time, he notes the pandemic has “triggered more awareness towards design principles such as sustainability and well-being”, with clients increasingly looking for their homes to meet building green building standards like LEED and WELL.”
He points to his personal projects as examples of this, including his home in Sheung Sze Wan and his own lifestyle brand, Ooak – short for “one of a kind” – which so far includes a Lamma Island villa and a ski resort in Niseko, Japan.
Leung’s house was designed to embrace the view over Clear Water Bay, with large floor-to-ceiling windows that can be opened to bring in the sea breeze. The two Ooak properties take a similar approach, which Leung describes as reflecting the “relationship between human, nature and space”.
For Lau, sustainability is a material question – specifically bamboo, which he has long explored in his furniture and product designs. “Bamboo is the most sustainable material to replace wood, because when you plant bamboo you only need five to six years [until harvest]. Even for a soft wood, you need 15 to 20 years,” he says.
For the Design Carnival in Guangzhou, he has designed a bamboo pavilion to be filled with bamboo objects created by invited designers. He sees his work as advocacy more than anything else.
“What I really want is for design schools to build programmes around bamboo,” he says.
Lee expects there to be no shortage of interesting conversation among the masters. “These three guys are buddies – I don’t think they’ll need a lot of prompting,” she says.
Rewriting the Blueprint of Future Homes (in Cantonese, with simultaneous English interpretation) takes place on December 3, 2pm-2.45pm. For more information visit 2021.bodw.com
