How Hong Kong’s most influential architecture and design has changed lives celebrated in HKSAR 25th anniversary exhibition
- ‘25 Years of Design’ celebrates the great strides forwards made in Hong Kong architecture and design, such as the airport at Chek Lap Kok and Central Market
- Curator Winnie Yue says it will also remind visitors how tough life used to be, and how the city has overcome the challenges it has faced
When Winnie Yue talks to her daughters about what life was like in Hong Kong when she was growing up, such as when people stored buckets of water at home in case of interrupted supply, they find it hard to relate.
So much has changed in the space of a generation that Yue, founder of the Designworks Foundation, a non-profit that advocates for design and cultural matters for the Hong Kong community, jumped at the opportunity to curate “25 Years of Design”, an upcoming exhibition of Hong Kong’s most influential architectural and design achievements.
Not just a retrospective of the last 25 years, the exhibition both goes further back in history and looks forward.
Yue attempts to chronicle the “great strides forward” by giving the public “a feel for the whole of Hong Kong, and what’s been important in improving the lives of the people”.
That ranges from the development of the new airport at Chek Lap Kok and a welcome focus on heritage preservation, to the creation of substantial community sports and leisure facilities, and the realisation of a long-held vision to establish a world-class arts and cultural precinct.
Water has been integral. The exhibition includes a visual replica of the ex-Sham Shui Po service reservoir at Bishop Hill, a century-old subterranean structure only rediscovered in 2020, and now a Grade 1 historic building.