Published On: 2017-01-04

Hong Kong-  Business Of Design Week, Asia’s leading annual event on design, innovation and brands, commenced the Plenary II. A wide range of topics were discussed ranging from city planning, green space to typeface design.

Architecture and Design of a Sustainable City

The first speaker was Winy Maas, the co-founding director of the globally operating architecture and urban planning firm MVRDV. He is known for promoting sustainable urban design and planning. One of his major works was the revitalization project of an old factory building on Wai Yip Street, Hong Kong, which was transformed into an entirely see-through glass office building. He reckoned that Hong Kong architecture was interesting – it is hybridized and often seen in crowded spaces. He knew of the old and under-used industrial area in Kowloon East and understood the urge of changing the use and design of old buildings as there was a procedure that could not be bypassed. But he was optimistic in applying new styles of architecture in old districts.

Tim Brown, the CEO and president of IDEO, shared his design thinking and innovation with businesspeople and designers around the world. He has been interested in the convergence of technology and arts for long time, and it urges him to think of how design can be used to promote the well-being of people living in emerging economies. He said, “Efficiency has been a good thing for business but it hasn't been enough, it can be bad if it focuses on only one thing. Think about running a Newspaper versus the newer idea of Craigslist. Businesses need to be vibrant, diverse, constantly innovative to address needs of clients. Evolve from efficient systems to abundant eco systems! Businesses need to be vibrant, diverse, constantly innovative to address needs of clients. Evolve from efficient systems to abundant eco systems!”

The World’s First Vertical Garden

Patrick Blanc, a botanist/artist, was also one of our speakers. He is the creator of the soilless system allowing the realisation of Vegaetal Walls, which was later patented. He also created the world’s first Vertical Garden. He discussed the combination of architecture and plants, and also pointed out the value of a green environment and gardening system in the process of urban planning. He prompted, “Technique of building a vertical garden is not most important. First thing I need to know is the plant - put the right plant in the right place in an architecture. There are different climatic situations – winter cold in NY, seasonal wind in HK and Taiwan and hot in Saudi Arabia, where I have worked in past years. In HK, you can go to see the green in a few minutes from the city centre, like the Peak. To plant the right species is to propagate the local species. It is the ideal. The local one already adapts the local climate.”

New Thinking in Design Education

Ahn Sangsoo is a Korean typographer and a graphic designer. He developed an interest in Korean typeface at his early stage of career. He founded Ahn Graphics in 1985 and created his first self-titled typeface configuration Ahn Sang-Soo. His contribution to Korean typography has granted him numerous international awards. He shared his idea about design education, “I have had no money, but only dream. I gather designers to start my new school at aged 60. Not too late to start. The central tenet of Pa Ti (Ahn’s design school) is there is no competition, which kills creativity I reckon. Everybody wants to be the first. Everybody wants to star. I want to be better and make more money than my friends do. In short-term, competition works. But in long term, by avoiding competition we work better together. Compared with what we teach, teaching environment is more important for students. Education is the most powerful weapon by which you can change the world. Education gives me courage.”

In the afternoon, there were four forums, namely “Tech & Design”, “Workplace & Design”, “Food & Design” and one special lecture on “The Making of the Millennium Park”. Pioneering designers and creative executives were invited to each session and shared their experiences of design thinking.

Combining Technology and Design

In “Tech & Design” forum, Gijs van der Veldon, a designer from the Netherlands, stressed the importance of critical and visionary research, particularly in this digital age. MX3D, a 3D printing research lab which he founded, developed a robotic 3D printer that can print big objects, out of the box, in metals and resins. He even set out on a journey to 3D print a metal bridge over a canal in the Red Light District of Amsterdam.

Jun Yamadera from Fukishima, Japan, shared why he had developed the Fukishima Wheel for his hometown. Since the aftermath of the terrible disaster caused by the earthquake and nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan in March 11, 2011, he began to launch this project.

Combining Urban Space and Design

In the “Workplace & Design” forum, one of the speakers was a Korean designer, Jeong Younjin, who co-founded URBANTAINER. One of her best works is “Common Ground”, a combination of numerous containers that creats a unique urban space for the city of Seoul. Now, the container shopping mall has become one of Seoul’s most appealing destination for shoppers and tourists. She is concerned with working environment for employees as she said in the forum “Jobs these days are not separable from life. We have to consider jobs and life as one package. We want to create a co-working and co-living environment."

Philip Ross, the founder and CEO of UnGroup, has spoken at conferences around the world including the Wall Street Journal Europe CEO Forum on Converging Technologies and the Corenet Global Summits. Specializing in research on people and their behaviors, at the forum he predicted the impact of emerging technology on the way we used space, where we would spend time to work, shop, consume leisure and live. “Buildings today are wrong since we simply put people on floors. Instead designers should clarify the clients' perspectives and their sectors about how people roam in the space. Physical connection no longer means being in the same room at the same time but connecting with people remotely."

As for Jeremy Myerson, he is an academic, author and activist in design and innovation who co-founded the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design that specializes in researching innovation and development for ageing and healthcare. As a leading role in such expertise, he elaborated on how to search for opportunities for design at a time of unprecedented social, demographic and technological change as he reviewed the history workspace design. He said “We observe 3 distinct ways of change in the office space in hisotry. The Taylorist Office that emphasises controlled environment amd scientific management has faded out. The Social Democratic Office that focuses social interaction is the most seen nowadays. But we believe that the Networked Office is the future.”

This Year’s Two Premiere Special Forums

This year, there was a premiere launch of “Food & Design” forum, where Martin Kastner and Marije Vogelzang joined as speakers. Martin Kastner is the service-ware designer for Chicago’s three Michelin-starred restaurants while Marije Vogelzang is the world’s first eating designer re-imagineering eating behavior.

The partner city of this year’s Business of Design Week is Chicago. In order to include more Chicago’s elements, a special lecture on “The Making of Millennium Park” was exclusively launched. The Commissioner of the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Event Events, Mark Kelly, and the sculptor behind the Millennium Park’s landscape, Terry Guen, imparted the design features of the Park and its cultural and economic benefits to the Chicago city.