The Roving Architecture Exhibition: Kuala Lumpur edition opens, uncovers Hong Kong’s unique urban landscape that copes with future challenges in spatial planning

The Kuala Lumpur-Nanjing-Hong Kong Roving Architecture Exhibition (the Roving Architecture Exhibition) recently opened its Kuala Lumpur exhibition on 22 July, which is the first stop for the entire show. Held at the renowned heritage building, Rumah Tangsi, in the heart of the city, the Kuala Lumpur edition will run until 7 August 2023. 

Themed “Harmony in Diversity – Connecting the Metropolis by In-Between”, the exhibition in Kuala Lumpur will feature 16 exhibits created by different professional groups and architects from Hong Kong. To echo the theme of the exhibition series the curatorial team – which is made up of Ar Professor Paul Chu, Ar Jacky Cheung, and Kan Chan – has paired up the exhibits for display in different zones with the aim to lay out the sharp contrast of the exhibition experience. Interactive display frames are specially designed and made for each set of exhibits to co-create more collaborations among the exhibits while allowing visitors to explore the exhibition with invisible boundaries. 

Ar Julia Lau, JP, OSTJ, chairperson of The Hong Kong Institute of Architects Biennale Foundation (HKIABF) who is the organiser of the Roving Architecture Exhibition, said, “We are delighted to organise the Kuala Lumpur-Nanjing-

Hong Kong Roving Architecture Exhibition to feature our architects and their distinctive creations beyond Hong Kong. I would like to express my appreciation to the curatorial team and all exhibitors for their valuable exploration and imagination in the exhibition, bringing new impacts to Hong Kong architecture and urban development.”  

Ar Benny Chan, president of The Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA), who is a partner of the Roving Architecture  Exhibition, said, “This exhibition series brings together Hong Kong architects from different  generations, not only providing a platform for deepening the industry exchange but also a golden  opportunity to show to different regions the uniqueness of Hong Kong architecture in the changes of  times.”

The curatorial team adopted the “in-between” as the keyword of the exhibition theme and invited exhibitors from different generations to narrate the connection between architecture and urban space from the perspective of Hong Kong architects and to showcase Hong Kong’s distinctive architectural and urban conditions through mixed presentation channels such as metaverse technology, multimedia player, interactive installation and visual creativity.  

According to the curatorial team, “Over the last 25 years, Hong Kong’s urban development model under the support of infrastructural expansion and innovations has revealed the ‘in-between’ conditions at different levels. The team hopes to illustrate that the unique urban landscape development of Hong  Kong is combining various ‘in-between’ elements, contrasting while integrating, consistent yet ever-changing. Meanwhile, it allows experts and the public to reflect on the development direction of  Hong Kong in order to meet the future challenges in spatial planning.” 

The exhibition showcases 16 HKIA members’ imagination and interpretation of “in-betweens” in various forms of expression to explore Hong Kong’s unique architectural conditions. The apparently insignificant spaces such as back alleys, the bottom of stairs, and the rooftops of tenement buildings are revealed as hidden urban conditions that are diversely programmed, culturally charged, and invisibly transformed. Some exist as physical artefacts, others incarnate in the virtual world. The way these “in-betweens” promote social interaction and connection connects space, time and people, and constitutes various aspects of the city. They also reveal how contrasting forces such as new and old, east and west, and nature and man-made shape Hong Kong’s unique urban landscape that celebrates diversity in harmony.

Individually, the exhibits celebrate the versatile media of expression and reflect the diverse spatial conditions; collectively, the changes in discourse in the field of architecture over time are reflected through the media and urban situations explored by architects from various generations.

Following the Kuala Lumpur edition, the Roving Architecture Exhibition will move to Nanjing, China, from October to November for the second stop, and then return to Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2024 with a response exhibition respectively.  

The Roving Architecture Exhibition) is organised by The Hong Kong Institute of Architects Biennale Foundation (HKIABF) in partnership with The Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA), with Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as the Lead Sponsor. The Roving Architecture Exhibition has three stops staged in three different cities, including the Kuala Lumpur Exhibition which is sponsored by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Jakarta, Indonesia, with the Malaysian Institute of Architects as the supporting organisation, while the Nanjing Exhibition is co-organised by Jiangsu Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce.